LJ Herman is a former editor at Love What Matters and lives in Colorado. LJ is a concert, ticket and technology enthusiast. He has seen the Dave Mathews Band over one hundred times and counting.
‘I had a hard time clothing her. I was sure I’d break her neck.’: New mom recalls ‘mean, vicious cold days’ in throes of postpartum anxiety
“I had been placed in a small, windowless hospital room that was 80 degrees. I was rotating between sweating because I was warm to shivering from having cold sweats. The medicines from labor were messing with me. I tried to keep it together but whenever a nurse left my room, I burst out crying. There was so much paperwork to fill out. I was alone.”
‘You know mom, teachers should never be mean like that. It’s so bad.’: Mom shocked by young son’s ‘super tender heart’ after revealing her teacher bullied her
“I said, ‘You’re so lucky to have such a nice teacher. When I was in third grade my teacher didn’t like me. When my desk would get really messy, she would take my desk in front of the whole room and dump it upside down and make me clean it all back up.’ I thought he’d be shocked or mad on my behalf, but nope. ‘That’s just so sad mom.'”
‘The man yells, ‘Look! These are yours. They fell out of that box. I’m your mailman!’: Woman hilariously recalls run-in with Amazon Prime deliveryman who picked up her ‘new butt’ underwear
“I saw a man walk onto my porch, then he bent down like he was hiding. So, I was like, ‘Hell no, you aren’t about to steal my Halloween decorations.’ I grab a baseball bat and the dog, open the door, jump out and literally yell ‘Freeze!’ The man stands up, and he’s holding a pair of underwear. I’m like, ‘You dirty old man, you’re on my porch smelling underwear.’ I’m out here swinging this baseball bat and he’s screaming, ‘Wait! Wait!’”
‘Mommy! I have to pee pee now!’ I was washing my face so I can’t open my eyes. He’s screaming.’: Woman hilariously recalls getting peed on by her son before annual physical at doctor
“I needed to be freshly showered for my exam. I washed everything and shaved my legs. When you’re going to get your pap smeared, you can’t just shower off. You got to do the whole 9 yards. Go for the full on, getting laid later, every nook and cranny shower. It was a mistake.”
‘I wanted that ‘shriveled up old prune’ to understand the pain her nasty looks conveyed.’: Mom confesses her ‘raging explosion’ trumped her 3-year-old autistic son’s meltdown, ‘Not my finest moment’
“We tried to enjoy a weekend getaway. We could barely go out in public with our son, but we still proceeded with a dolphin show for our daughter’s sake. An elderly lady passing by was so startled, we thought she might need her smelling salts. The look of disgust and judgement was evident on her face. The rage inside me boiled over. I immediately went into full-blown ‘fight or flight’ mama bear mode.”
‘I didn’t even hurt you that bad.’ I believed it when he said, ‘You pushed me to this point.’: Young woman finds courage to leave abusive boyfriend, urges ‘love isn’t abuse in ANY form’
“I finally found the courage to dial those three numbers. I had my phone taken from me, which created a fight in itself. I was lucky enough to be wearing my Apple Watch which allowed me to call. The EMT looked me in the eyes. ‘Any man that puts his hands on you doesn’t love you.’ His words helped me more than he will ever know.”
‘We gave each other a list of people we were allowed to marry if one of us died.’: Woman admits she threatened to ‘haunt’ husband if he ever remarried, now encourages him to ‘keep on living’
“21-year-old me would have fallen over dead at the very idea of another woman marrying the love of my life. Oopsie. That was a tiny bit crazy.”
‘I can be awkward. I was never a part of that elusive inner circle I so desperately wanted to fit in.’: Woman admits she was never part of the ‘popular crowd,’ ‘I can’t be everyone’s cup of tea’
“I felt this innate need to be liked. When people didn’t like me? Guys, it would haunt me. I’d tweak my personality to become what I thought would be more appealing. I’d get bullied. I spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about it. Was it because my family wasn’t rich? That I wore the wrong clothes? Thank God I don’t make the cut.”
‘At 18, it was my turn to hospitalize my mother. Was my fate sealed? My dad assured me I was different.’: Daughter struggles with mom’s bipolar disorder, how a ‘pivotal moment’ helped her heal
“Purple has always been Mom’s favorite color. She was a devoted, loving mother to 3 children. But at age 13, purple and I became enemies on an unforgettable day. My normally reserved Mother sat on her purple chair beside the purple table babbling nonsensically about her purple 10-dollar bill. That night was the first of many times Mom was hospitalized.”
‘It’s just one night. It won’t hurt.’ I was just so doggone tired.’: Mom begs parents not to bedshare, cosleep, ‘I wish I’d listened’
“I didn’t think about the dangers, even though my husband and I argued every night about it. He’s not my husband anymore. My other two children have now been adopted by another family. I lost everything – just because I took that risk.”