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.
‘Y’all, I was too embarrassed to go to the car wash. ‘Everyone pick up their stuff.’ I just wasn’t willing to listen to my husband.’: Mom shares hilarious car wash fail
“Basically, my car was too dirty to go to a car wash. I chose the vacuums as far away from other people as humanly possible, sure no one would notice the avalanche of crap about to fall out of my passenger side door. I was so very wrong. Up pulled a man in a light blue, flawless car.”
‘I didn’t need his permission. I closed my eyes, clicked a button, and finally put an end to my pretending.’: It’s been one year since I stopped faking it on social media
“I posted our most recent family photos, and the comments poured in about how ‘perfect’ my family was. I knew things needed to change. I didn’t want people to just like my photos, I wanted them to like me, all of me—even the painful, grieving parts. I am a child who was abused by her father at 3 years old. A teenager who was the victim of statutory rape. I found my husband unresponsive on the floor with a failing heart.”
‘We couldn’t possibly have known. There was so much more ahead of us.’: Woman reminisces on being a clueless new mother, ‘You’ll all be OK because you already know the secret, how to love this baby’
“I just found this picture behind another photo in a frame and I’ve unearthed a memory. I see young me, about 3 weeks into my mom journey. I couldn’t possibly have known. And I’m glad I didn’t.”
‘My mom loves to decorate at Christmas. It’s a big deal to her. She begged me to go outside to make sure they were ‘just right.’ I didn’t want to.’: Daughter ‘couldn’t care less’ about holidays, but realizes ‘there’s always a reason to share genuine human spirit’
“Christmas? Forget it. It’s not for me. I like the quiet. For a girl like me, holidays are overwhelming. But my mom loves to decorate. She puts up 5 Christmas trees. She goes all out. She begged me to go outside with her to look at them. I didn’t want to. I couldn’t care less. Just then it hit me. She cares. It’s important to her.”
‘I’ve been saving this money. I heard your husband died. I want you to have it because I still have my dad. Merry Christmas.’ It was a child’s handwriting.’: Widow receives unexpected act of kindness, now wants to pay it forward
“As I sat staring at the tree, silently pleading with God for direction, my doorbell rang. I made my way to the door, opened it and looked out – no one stood there. I looked down. To my surprise on the porch sat a glass jar piggy bank full of money. I read the card and started to cry. In a child’s handwriting, scribbled on a makeshift card, read the most beautiful little words.”
‘But mama, we want to go sledding with you.’ Both girls looked at me with pleading eyes. I knew I had to go. I paused.’: Mom struggles to drop everything for her kids during holidays
“I looked around, boxes still unpacked, dishes to be done, dinner not yet cooked, and snow-day mess abounding, but this time instead of my mental checklist on repeat, I heard something different. That small voice that gently whispered, ‘How much longer will they want to do this with you?’”
‘I turned in my 2 weeks’ notice. I didn’t have any job prospects. I just knew if I stayed, that place would’ve sucked the life out of me.’: Woman abandons dream job after upper management creates ‘living hell’ environment
“The job I was so happy to go to every morning suddenly caused me such bad anxiety I could not even get out of bed in the morning. I started seeing a therapist. Life at work was a living hell. I cried as I pack up my desk. My supervisor didn’t even say two words to me. NEWS FLASH: People don’t leave jobs, they leave toxic work environments.”
‘Toddlers, huh?’ ‘You’ll miss these days.’ I smile back. They mean well.’: Mom of autistic son explains ‘this isn’t a tantrum, this is stimming’
“‘She will be good for him,’ she motioned towards my newborn. What? I live in a new city, knowing hardly anyone other than my husband, and now I suddenly have an autistic son and newborn daughter? I looked at my sweet Finley, his precious little face, and cried because of how I thought the world would see him.”
‘That’s my brother,’ he stood next to me crying. He never left him. His skin was white as a sheet.’: Mom ‘so shaken’ after son’s stroke scare, ‘No moment is promised’
“It was a normal day. We headed to Wegmans. While I was pushing the cart, Finn was lagging a little. ‘What’s wrong?’ He responded, ‘I can’t keep up, carry me.’ One of his sides went limp and his face was leaning on the cart. I went to pick him up and he collapsed on the floor. I started screaming for help and a Wegmans employee yelled to call 911. They wanted to make sure he didn’t have a stroke.”
The Reality Of Raising A Child In A Split Home
“It’s a whirlwind of emotions and an experience that, even having lived it, is still a daily struggle no matter how long it’s been going on or how long you are away from your child.”