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 lovely woman in her fifties strolled by with her cart. ‘You’d better be good. Santa’s watching!’ Pause.’: Woman encounters stranger trying to do her a ‘solid’ in Target
“How dare she put me in this position! How dare she speak those words into my son’s life! How DARE she. I spent the entire rest of the Target trip trying to conjure up the perfect retort. Who does she think she is, anyway!? I stopped dead in my tracks and started laughing.”
Why I Choose Tough Love When Parenting My Children
“I really do hope to provide the very best possible life I can imagine for them. And oftentimes… that means I say NO.”
‘I love your lips! Your lips are so full and sexy. I love bigger girls. Let’s have some ‘fun.’: Sexual innuendos woman recieves in her inbox make her want to ‘throw up’
“I block user after user after user. I never thought I’d be tired of the words ‘pretty’ and ‘beautiful’ and being told how ‘desirable’ I am (in the most vulgar ways). I’m not trying to sound conceited. If only they knew me. Really knew me. My lips mean more to men than anything else about me.”
‘Eat, drink, be merry, and avoid cousin Mary if she robs your joy.’: 4 things to remember this Thanksgiving
“Go if you want, stay home if you want. Excuse yourself if you’re tired, or it’s too chaotic. Boundary lines blur during the holiday season, and our cheer gets the best of us. Just remember, ‘We have an obligation to love everyone, but some people we must love at a safe distance.’ Send them to the kiddy table and keep yourself at peace.”
‘If I feel like this with 1, how am I ever going to survive more?’ How would I perfect another kid?’: Mom of 3 realizes in hindsight first child is ‘the hardest job’
“I remember trying to fill the time until my husband got home from work in 10 minute increments. ‘Okay, we can look in the mirror until 4:17, then we’ll walk down to get the mail. That’ll get us to about 4:30. When we get back, we can read books until 4:45. Then preheat the oven and get all the ingredients out for supper. At 5, I can put him in his swing and start cooking dinner.’ I cannot perfect my children. And that sucks.”
‘I’d like to give you a twenty. Is that ok?’ I passed it over. ‘Yes, yes. Thank you. I’m sorry. I just am having a real bad day.’: Woman is ‘changed’ after trying to help homeless man with simple act of kindness
“He turned toward me. Huffily, he said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m just really tired, and I have a terrible headache.’ This man was still ill-mannered and grumpy as hell, mind you, but at least he let me know why. He became human. He folded his sign and took the several steps to my window. The light was about to turn green.”
‘Mom! We’ve been in an accident! They can’t get Daddy to wake up.’ I asked if the airbags deployed.’: Woman loses husband in tragic accident, marries fellow widow, ‘My heart began to beat again’
“Eleven days later, I got a message from Todd. I had never met him in person. We began very innocent conversation about being ‘only parents’ to our children. We sat in that booth for 3 hours…. talking, laughing, crying. After we finally left, I sent a text. ‘I know I should be playing it cool, but I had a really great time. I’d like to do it again soon.’”
‘He’s selfish. My husband is feet up, on the couch, quietly sipping his favorite beer, that I bought for him.’: Wife says despite her husband’s faults, she definitely ‘married up’
“When my husband and I sat down with our pastor for our first session of pre-marital counseling, my mind was a flurry of white noise, punctuated by red-hot panic. The one thing I do remember our pastor saying was, ‘The best marriages happen when both people think they married up.’ Damn, was he right.”
‘He never even looked for me. Not when he fell. Not when he stood back up. It stunned me, to be honest.’: 6-year-old doesn’t need mom after falling hard, ‘I watched and I watched, and I waited’
“My little boy was knocked off his feet by a bigger kid during a soccer game. My hands were clinched on the sidelines as I watched him limp toward the goal. I watched and I watched, and I waited. And he never even looked for me. He fell hard. And he didn’t even look for me.”
How Learning My Husband’s Love Language Transformed Our Marriage
“When I get frustrated with my husband, I want to be left alone, but he wanted to talk. Talk?! Are you kidding me? Ryan expressed his frustration with me as we sat in the hot tub. I wasn’t caught off guard, I knew it was coming.”