Rebecca Balfe is a former editor for Love What Matters. She resides in NYC, owning and rescuing adorable cats. She is an avid Lupus fighter and advocate.
‘Are you giving up?’ He replied, ‘You aren’t getting pregnant!’ I surrendered my idea of family.’: Couple pursues adoption after infertility battle, ‘Our hearts completely changed’
“My heart sunk. ‘Wait, but what about me?’ I was ecstatic to help this little one go home, but my life had shifted and I wasn’t ready to go back.”
‘Dad repeated, ‘I put it in his hands!’ How could he have given his son lethal narcotics? I was frozen in shock.’: Man recounts brother’s overdose, homophobia, ‘Learn from your hardships’
“My father would call me ‘sissy’ and ‘mama’s boy,’ and it hurt. A lot. Words like these never leave you. But it forced me to rise up.”
‘I called my husband. ‘I have to tell you something about our boy.’ He wailed and cried like I’d never heard before.’: Mom recounts son’s leukemia journey, ‘I don’t take his life for granted’
“I watched them stick a needle into my baby’s chest, and tried to pretend it was fun and not scary. I slept weeks in the hospital, constantly checking if he was okay. He charmed all the doctors and nurses, his little bald head dancing.”
‘You’re not my mom!’ Ouch. Remember, you are not her first choice, but she wouldn’t rather have anyone else.’: Stepmom details the joys and struggles of ‘selfless’ co-parenting
“They’re not yours. You aren’t their REAL mom. You watch decisions made you have no control over, even when you love them as your own.”
‘He was cheating. ‘How will we break it to the kids?’ I waddled through bankruptcy. Divorce was the lifesaver I needed.’: Divorcee details journey to self-love
“A dear friend mentioned therapy, very casually over delicious avocado toast and latte. I finally bit the bullet and gave in. I cried so hard I could feel the ghosts of all my unspoken terrors lifting off my shoulders.”
‘WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?!’ I created a narrative of this perfect girl. We needed her!’: Mom shares ‘gender disappointment’
“I wasn’t ready for the comments. The ‘OMG ANOTHER BOY?!’ comments. The ‘wow looks like you’re outnumbered’ comments. The ‘maybe next time’ comments.”
‘I’m not enough for my son.’ Pregnant at 19, my relationship was a toxic monster. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.’: Mom details PPD and finding love, ‘Authentic love speaks volumes’
“Our love was like a beast that devoured us both. We’d talk for hours about light and darkness and all of the mystery that was him and I. He accepted my past and my child as if he was his own.”
‘My boyfriend took my virginity during the grayest night of my life. I saw myself as used goods. I couldn.’t find my voice.’: Woman finds ‘self-worth’ after divorce, ‘I’m happy and whole’
“I got off the road after three packed years as a pop artist and found myself not knowing who I should be next. I thought I was ugly. I thought I was broken. I designed my next chapter to become truly happy.”
‘I had clothes laid out for her. I left my job to be a stay-at-home papa. This hurts, BAD.’: Dads share disrupted adoption story, ‘I couldn’t imagine life any other way’
“We anxiously awaited the phone call. One day led to two days, then three. It was like someone punched me in my stomach 10 times. Our birth mother had disappeared.”
‘MOM, look!’ Out my window was the N-word. I couldn’t breathe. ‘Mom, why? We love everyone!’: Neighborhood comes together to help family after hate crime
“We taught our kids, ‘Treat EVERYONE with kindness.’ All I wanted to do was hurt the person who hurt my family. But LOVE stepped in. People of all races came to show us love, to cry with us, to give us encouragement.”