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 was 13 when an older friend said, ‘I’m out of condoms but it’s fine, I know what I’m doing.’ I believed him.’: Woman says the key to a healthy sex life after a ‘past’ is communication
“At 13, I began to let boys put their hands on my sacred spaces, but my permission still didn’t gain their respect. I was just a goal conquered as he walked past the football team. I saw the smirks and yet I continued to endure the degrading behavior. Sex is so much more sacred than mankind has treated it.”
‘I’ve felt my own husband lift me out of bed, daily dressing me, bathing me, and doing things for my body I never would’ve imagined.’: After failed relationships, woman says ‘you are meant for yourself, first’
“Before I met Luke, after my second failed long-term relationship, I was at rock bottom. ‘Kel…your picker is broken,’ my therapist told me. It stuck with me, ringing in my head. I never would’ve found him if I hadn’t first found myself.”
‘It was like poison to my body, killing me from the inside out. I wasn’t prepared for the ache of failure when we just couldn’t figure out what was hurting you.’: Woman pens touching letter to child after struggle with postpartum depression
“But I promise you, I will pick myself up from those inevitable tough moments and I will try harder next time. I will learn from my mistakes and I will teach you the same. I hope my love for you is enough.”
‘They will remove your ovary through your vagina.’ My heart skipped a beat. ‘What? I’m on my period.’ The color never returned to his face.’: Woman cracks jokes before ovarian tumor surgery
“My mother-in-law asked me if I liked my doctor. ‘Well, I did before he stuck his finger in my butthole!’ I make jokes. Sometimes, really inappropriate ones. There is no right way or wrong way to deal with a situation like this. I was at a hospital that had already saved my life once.”
‘Hey, Mrs. Norman. Can you take a 4lb premature baby? We really need a place for him to go.’ Newborn? Baby? Preemie? ‘Are you sure you’re asking the right family?!’: Woman unexpectedly gets call to foster preemie baby
“‘Is that a yes? We can meet at Walmart. Thanks so much.’ Meet at Walmart? With a 4lb preemie? In the middle of cold and flu season? I kept my children in isolation for 6 weeks and here was a newborn heading to his first outing in the middle of winter. It was all too much to take in. I had no idea what our future with him might hold, but I did know this: no baby deserves to be alone.”
‘This pair I worked doggedly to keep together until the end, will be separated, condemned to die alone, and cared for by strangers.’: Social worker urges medical planning, ‘Your loved ones are worth it’
“I watched in horror as the Leviathan of our legal and healthcare system grabbed this couple and sucked them into the abyss, pulling them out of my hands. I fought with everything I had to secure this couple a happy ending. As one patient said to me, ‘Getting old is not for the weak or poor.”
‘The word ‘miscarriage’ sounds like the woman miss-carried and she’s to blame for her loss. And you know what, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.’: After miscarriage, woman says ‘there is pain because there is and was love’
“I was pregnant for a few short days with baby #4 only to have that ‘PREGNANT’ reading turn to ‘NOT PREGNANT’ in a matter of 72 hours. I had gotten excited. I had told the kids. When a woman miscarries, she will never not be carrying the pain of that loss within her. I beg you, don’t dare miss a chance at being there for her. It was me. It could be you. Or it might be her.”
‘Your tattoos will get in the way of a real job.’ I learned to collect his affirmation like a treasure hunt.’: Woman tries to repair relationship with dad, ‘We’re finally getting to know one another’
“I don’t really know my dad. I’ve heard more stories from others than I’ve heard from him. I’d go weeks without talking to him, months without seeing him, and we’ve always lived in the same town, only miles apart. When it all fell into place, I knew he would be my biggest fan.”
‘You’re the girl who cries on her way to work but walks in with a smile on her face. The girl who never asks for help.’: Woman reminds us ‘there is no shame in being vulnerable’
“I never reached out to anyone for help in any way — whether it be a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or just some advice, support, and borrowed strength. I know many reading this have been there as well. We are not so different.”
‘I think you need to go buy me some diapers.’ I hung my half-naked self off the side of the bed and peed in the bowl.’: After laparoscopic surgery, woman says husband’s care is ‘real love’
“Surgery isn’t sexy. A man by your side going along with your crazy ideas because he loves you so much…that is sexy.”