“I decided to write Peyton a letter before he left. I needed to get out all of the things I wanted to say to him – the good and the bad. I’m sorry we took the easy way out. I wish we would have fought harder for you.”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘I gave him a letter today as he left for college. I never could’ve predicted how hard that drive away would be.’
By Eliza Murphy -
‘He got to meet his little brother for the first time. He had waited a long time for this moment. Adoption is beautiful.’
“Our son was worried. When I told him the birth mom would be the one bringing his brother in and handing him to us, he asked why she had to do it. He said, ‘Won’t she be sad?’”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘Dear Dad: From the prime age of nine, the words ‘I hate our f*cking kids, I wish they were dead.’ curved and shaped my memory’
“My addiction is despising you, making excuses for you, thanking you, wanting to hurt you, forgiving you, fearing you, my addiction is loving you when all I want to do is forget you.”
By LJ Herman -
‘So God made a sister’
“He knew you needed another set of eyes to bear witness to all the glorious magic and madness of your childhood – someone who could feel the ache of memories long past and smile with knowing eyes when you talk about the good ole’ days.”
By LJ Herman -
‘It’s so crazy you can peacefully go to sleep at night and then wake up to the tragic news that your 19-year-old brother has died.’
“It felt like someone had taken a sledge hammer to my heart. Why in the world is my LITTLE brother, who’s only 19, laying in a casket?”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘Mikey has asked for a baby brother since he was 3 years old. After losing a baby at 11 weeks, we were thrilled he would finally get his baby brother.’
“My husband and I wish Jake looked at us the way he looks at Mikey. It’s as if the two of them were destined to be each other’s brother. I feel honored to witness their love.”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘853 days. That’s how much time my son spent with his biological parents before they both tragically passed away. While legally my adopted son, he is biologically my brother.
“Easton lost his mom to an overdose, and then we both lost our father 12 days later to pancreatic cancer. Today marks the day that he has officially spent more time with us, than he ever did with his biological parents. Let that sink in.”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘The moment my sister finally held her rainbow baby after suffering the tragic back to back losses of two stillborn sons.’
“She was beyond devastated when she was told she could never carry again. That’s when my wife said she would carry a baby for her.”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘Every time I looked in the mirror I saw the girl with Endometriosis. The girl whose brother died. The girl who had given up. I was done being that girl. I wanted to feel beautiful again. ‘
“I grieved the loss of my baby I will never feel growing inside me. I was angry at God for taking my brother so soon. I was done being that girl. I wanted to feel beautiful again.”
By Eliza Murphy -
‘Having 2 brothers with Down syndrome is far from disabling’: From ‘humiliation’ to ‘compassion,’ sister’s says her special needs siblings ‘teach us more than we teach them’
“When I was 14, my parents surprisingly had another child with Down syndrome. My mother went through a year of emotional breakdown. She felt humiliated.”
By Eliza Murphy -
