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.
‘A nurse grabbed my hand. ‘I’m right here,’ she squeezed tightly and said. I remember looking around the room to find some sense of peace.’
“When they discovered my diagnosis, my hospital room erupted into chaos as nurses rushed in. I remember being filled with fear as they wheeled me away. But when the world seemed so dark, our best friends would step in and help bring us back into the light.”
‘My kid’s school had a lockdown. I saw this on her arm. ‘In case the bad guy got to us and I got killed, you and daddy would know I love you.’: Mom shares daughter’s heartbreaking reaction to school lockdown
“I cried as I watched her innocence get stolen away. To know my 7-year-old was put in a position to think that thought is absolutely gut wrenching and it’s killing me inside.”
‘Been trying a little experiment for the last 2 weeks, putting breast milk on one side of my stomach. I can’t believe the difference!’
“I rub it into my tummy while nursing and lather it on so it’s almost dripping off. I let it air dry and just pull my shirt over after. I put it on every time I nurse.”
‘I’m trapped. I wonder how many times I can grimace when he touches my arm or roll away from him in bed before he quits trying altogether.’: Woman recounts her relationship struggles
“I don’t want to be touched. I don’t think about my fairy tales anymore; I just read them on repeat to my children. I’m in survival mode.”
‘I am SICKENED this phrase is on a lunch box.’: Mom urges ‘girls, you are beautiful, worthy, and whole beings’
“See this? This is a picture I snapped today of a little girl’s lunchbox I saw for sale. We wonder, ‘Why do our girls worry so much about their bodies so young?’ THIS. This is the reason why.”
‘I don’t fit in. They don’t really want me there. I wonder why I wasn’t invited. I walk up to a circle of people and don’t know whether to force my way in or hang on the outside’: Woman’s realization on ‘fitting in’
“Circles are great if you’re on the inside. But circles can be awfully cruel if you’re left on the outskirts. They can be excluding. Exhausting. Cliquish. Childish. They are far, far too common.”
‘I am so, so sorry. I gave you the wrong results, I read them wrong, you are actually not pregnant.’ I remember thinking, oh no, here’s where the skeleton comes out of the closet.’: Couple given wrong results during infertility struggle, finally experience ‘miracle’ pregnancy
“He then looked at us, and said, ‘What are you talking about?! No sperm??’ ‘We were told there was no sperm,’ I said. I burst into tears, not believing that what he was saying was true. It couldn’t be true.”
‘What did you do to your child!’ I hadn’t grasped the accusation, I could see the fractures. He continued, ‘I’ve ordered a full CAT scan to determine if you caused brain damage to your daughter!’
“I couldn’t understand how, but there was the evidence right in front of me. Undeniable proof that she indeed was hurt and hurt badly. How could my precious little one-month old baby have four broken bones at once!”
‘She must have known she was pregnant.’ I was four months pregnant, and I had no idea.’: Woman has rainbow baby after miscarrying at home without realizing she was pregnant
“I hadn’t known I was pregnant, but I have photos of Pippit hugging me like this as I slept while I was pregnant with Liam. I was emotional, exhausted and couldn’t help but fall asleep when I least expected to. I had been 4 months pregnant, and I had no idea. It was a shock. I was in disbelief.”
‘It all seemed wonderful. We’d found the birth parents of our future child, and then lost them. The birth father told his mom about the baby, and she decided to ‘come for a quick visit.’
“It seemed like a match made in heaven. ‘We’re still kids,’ we can remember her saying. And then we got THE CALL.”