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.
‘I went to the room. Paint, check. Roller thing, check. I opened the door, and the strangest thing happened. Grief hit me, and it took me to my knees.’
“Then, the next strangest thing happened. My teenager appeared. She sauntered in, checked out my work, paused, and then asked if she could help. My jaw almost hit the ground. I don’t know if she felt it, too. I don’t know if she knew we were missing something by not having her dad there.”
‘Immediately, I knew there was something different. Her precious little body felt weak and floppy. Looking at her tiny face, I saw it.’: Blended family births 11th baby with Down syndrome
“When I found myself unexpectedly widowed at 39, I couldn’t have imagined what my life would look like 5 years later. We met on a dating site. Blending our families and accommodating the needs of 10 children was a complicated task. Then we heard, ‘I’m so sorry,’ which prompted more tears. It was my job as her mother to be strong and brave, but I doubted my ability to do so.”
‘Are you ok?,’ I asked. ‘It’s complicated.’ Panicked, I said, ‘We aren’t okay?’ He replied, ‘I don’t want to talk anymore.’ And the conversation ended.’: Woman overcomes divorce after husband cheated, ‘I know I am beautiful, smart, kind’
“I heard him tell the kids, ‘I don’t know how much I will be seeing you guys for the next little while.’ I threw on some clothes and asked the children to leave the room. He told me he simply did not love me anymore. ‘Having sex with you is hard since you’ve started all these diets but never stick to any of them.’ My heart fell to the floor.”
‘I can’t go back there; I can’t lose my wife again,’ he told me. ‘I’m not sure I’d survive that.’ We were terrified. Terrified of who I was pregnant.’
“My doctor very clearly advised me I would need to be off my antidepressants if I wanted to get pregnant, so I came off them. The next several months were some of my darkest. My husband was taking care of a wife who, in his words, ‘had disappeared.'”
‘Her grip on the bed rails quickly moved over to him. Her nails sliced through his shirt, like butter. They were in this fight not just to win, but to grow together.’
“He never stopped watching her face. In the middle of it all, he knew where his priorities were. The scratches, the teeth marks on his shoulder, all became battle scars.”
‘My friends invited me for a weekend getaway. I got a few itchy bites. ‘Are you pregnant?’ ‘Maybe it’s bacterial?’ This was a disease I had never heard of. There is NO cure for it.’
“I assumed it was the flu. I drank plenty of fluids and stayed in bed. But I wasn’t getting better. I had shooting pains all the way up my spine, as if someone was sawing me open. I went back to the doctor. ‘I think it’s food poisoning.’ ‘Maybe cancer.’ ‘HIV.’ ‘Is it possible you’re pregnant?’ No.”
‘So how many do you think?,’ I asked him. He thought there was only going to be 1. There were 4. ‘ARE YOU SERIOUS?!’
“I promised my husband I wouldn’t joke when I called him. As I laid on the table, the doctor looked at me and said, ‘Well Britt, we didn’t plan for this. THERE’S FOUR!’ We were going to be parents to quadruplets!!! Now came the fun part – I had to call Ryan.”
‘Nurses told me to, ‘Not be so dramatic.’ I tried to get help from teachers, police officers, neighbors. Nobody listened.’: Woman survives abuse, finally receives proper mental illness treatment at 36
“By 27 years old we had 2 beautiful boys and a baby girl. We were married, living well and happy. I was baking cupcakes and going on field trips – I was exactly who I thought I should be. Then it happened.”
‘Take your pants off.’ I took a deep breath and headed back. As I lay on the medical table, half naked, all I could hear was my heartbeat.’: LGBT couple embark on IUI journey, ‘our little one came into the world fast and furious’
“Around 11:30 a.m. I awoke with an immediate urge to poop. ‘Wait! I am 29 years old. I won’t poop my pants. That’s ridiculous.’ I started moaning. I could feel it in my bones — I knew I was close. And still no midwife. She asked me if I wanted to push. ‘YES!’ I cried out.”
‘I married the man of my dreams, created a family, and realized after 9 years we weren’t able to pray the gay away.’: Couple divorce and become best friends, ‘Our lives drastically changed in the most beautiful way’
“He pulled me aside and told me he ‘struggled’ with homosexuality. My response: ‘Wow, you’re going to need a really strong wife!’ For the very first time, Kyle actually said out loud, ‘I am a gay man and I want to be with a man.’”