As a Digital Editor of Love What Matters, I'm here to pull on your heartstrings and make you smile. After spending nearly six years as a Digital Reporter for ABC News' "Good Morning America," I'm thrilled to continue sharing touching and inspiring stories that the world is so craving. We can all use more love in our lives -- now you've found the perfect place to get it.
“‘Look at our sweet girls,’ we cooed. Had the last ultrasound been this quiet? Two identical, squirmy bodies appeared on screen. Six specialists took turns presenting the same results. ‘Both your daughters will require open heart surgery.’ Information on testing and abortion: excessive. I would again be facing those heavy double doors.”
“I must have looked terrified. The nurse said, ‘Don’t worry, this may be your first time, but it’s not our first time doing this.’ I strained to hear what the doctor was saying but couldn’t make it out. They’d occasionally laugh so I thought everything was going well. I felt a tug and I suddenly felt hollow. I remember asking, ‘Is she ok?’ She was only 2 pounds. The tiniest baby I had ever seen.”
“One tall football player who looked like a grown man, beard and all, pressed me with questions I didn’t want to answer. The classroom was full, and all eyes were on me. A group text with my colleagues had begun. Rumors of a gun in the school. My insides knotted up.”
“‘I never want you to meet my mother,’ he would tell me. I assured him she couldn’t scare me away. The cops told him to pack clothes and leave his mother’s house. ‘You aren’t going to arrest her for assaulting me?’ The cop replied, ‘You’re a big guy. There’s nothing I can do.’ I remember just shaking my head, leaning in for a hug. I love you more, Michael. But that love wasn’t enough.”
“Every mama’s heart is burdened with the weight of her children’s fleeting childhoods. But the beauty is that we are still Mama. They may be too big to carry, or are living with their spouses, but we are still Mama.”
“The purpose of me writing this piece is about people constantly feeling the need to make unwelcome comments and scrutinizing women’s bodies in particular.”
“I got the call around 3:30 a.m. I spent 9 months preparing for that call. 9 months worth of nights obsessively checking the volume on the phone, making sure it was charged, that it was close by, that I hadn’t somehow missed any calls. Well I got my call. Loud and clear.”
“I was shoved down the stairs by a drunk guy at a party. ‘You are going too slow,’ he said as he pushed me. Once again, visuals of high school flooded my head, and I started to feel myself giving up.”
“I woke up to hear him gasping. ‘Is this actually happening?’ My husband was only 41 years old and very healthy. He had just passed his physical a month prior with flying colors.”
‘I want you to mess up. I want you to get distracted by your phone at story time. I want for you to fight in front of your kids. I want you to leave your power-sliding van door open. I want you to yell.”
