Sophia San Filippo

Managing Editor & SEO Lead

Based in New York City, Sophia San Filippo has worked with Love What Matters as a lead editor and content curator since early 2019 and has acted as Managing Editor since early 2021. She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Binghamton University who holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Creative Writing, and Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. She is passionate about personal storytelling and creating a positive space in media to better the lives of others. On a typical day you can find her rocking out at her local concert venue, admiring nature, or baking her latest kitchen experiment.

‘I never got to see your face, but I’m still your mother. I loved you the moment I saw those 2 pink lines.’: Mom pens heartbreaking letter to child lost, ‘I hope you feel us, we’ll never stop loving you’

“I was never able to wrap you in a blanket and breathe you in. I’ll never comfort you when you’re sad, scared, or hurt. But I carried you. I knew you. And when I began losing you, when you started to leave my body much too early, a part of me went with you. I hope you know you would have fit right in with us. I hope you feel us. Because we will never stop loving you.”

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‘He doesn’t buy flowers or cook romantic meals, but he always pushes the grocery cart.’: Woman reminds us ‘love is found’ in small gestures

“If his restaurant order is better, he’ll switch plates. He knows all my favorite ‘lady products’ and will run to the pharmacy for me. He unloads the groceries while I sit with the seat warmers on. Every time. I wasted years looking for the love shown in movies, disappointed time and time again, instead of paying attention to how HE loves.”

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‘Who are you?!’ Strangers were looking for my ex. Suddenly, I felt intense pain in my pregnant stomach. I’d been shot.’: Woman loses baby to gunshot wound in robbery, ‘I spent 8 beautiful days on Earth with her’

“The EMT arrived. I couldn’t feel my baby girl moving anymore. ‘Please help her!’ I begged. They tried to detect the heartbeat, but couldn’t. Last thing I remember, I was being wheeled into the ER, all eyes on me. When I first saw her, she was motionless. ‘The decision is up to you. When you say enough is enough, she’ll be put to rest.’ They removed the tubes, but she continued to breathe. She kept fighting to stay alive.”

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‘Never say ‘NO’ to a guy who had the courage to ask you to dance. It’s 3 minutes. It’s not THAT bad.’: Mom ‘shocked, disgusted’ by church flyer she claims ‘perpetuates rape culture’

“The flyer tells girls, ‘Wear a little lip gloss. And don’t forget the approved dress standards. You don’t want the guy dancing with you to feel uncomfortable because of the questionable outfit you justified.’ No. NOPE. NOOO! My church taught me I needed men to tell me how to behave sexually. I lived my whole life with shame, guilt. This is not happening with my daughter.”

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‘Last night, I slept on my teenage daughter’s bedroom floor. It was all I could do.’: Mom realizes she can no longer ‘slap on a bandage, give a kiss’ to fix teen daughter’s pain

“I awoke at 10 p.m. to light and sobbing coming from my daughter’s room. I went in to find her sitting up in bed, tears streaming. When someone breaks their heart, we can’t talk them into loving our baby again. When they don’t have friends, we can’t set up play dates. When they don’t get the job, we can’t plead with the employer. There was nothing I could do.”

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‘Having a baby won’t ‘fix’ your relationship. Oh, no. It will test you.’: Woman urges importance of being in a ‘solid relationship’ before having kids, ‘parenthood can break you’

“Your eyeballs are hanging out of your head at 3:00 a.m. while you’re looking at your partner’s worthless nipples. You’re on the couch, barely speaking to each other, thinking every noise is the baby waking. Scrolling through phones to fall asleep, you forget to say goodnight. Conversations were once everything. Now, they’re kept to the point because there’s just no time.”

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‘My daughter Penny is not a ‘mistake.’ She is perfection.’: Down syndrome mom explains the difference between ‘inclusion’ and helping special needs individuals ‘belong’

“People often feel awkward asking questions about my daughter. Penny gets sidelined from activities and events because they don’t know how to welcome her. The message of inclusion is, ‘We want you here with us.’ But belonging emerges from a deep desire to not just include the ‘other,’ but to love and be loved.”

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‘Will you be my wife?’ You never emerged from the water to hear my answer. ‘Yes! A million times, yes!’: Man tragically drowns while proposing, ‘please love each other hard, while you can’

“Just days before you died, you said to me, ‘We are so blessed.’ My perfect love, my angel. Yes, we were. In the cruelest twist of fate imaginable, we never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together. I will carry the love we shared with me forever. I will find you and marry you in the next lifetime, and the next, and the next, and the next.”

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‘I hear a gurgling noise. I look and see a tiny toy at the back of my daughter’s throat. It’s not coming out.’: Mom can’t stop wondering, ‘what if?’ after ‘freak accident,’ urges us to ‘please be careful’

“My daughter Maya is 2.5 years old. She has all these little toys she plays with under strict supervision. Somehow, she managed to smuggle one up to bed. I quickly yell to my partner. He’s there in seconds, telling me to call an ambulance. So, I’m screaming words that don’t even make sense down the phone to 911. ‘This must be a dream, this can’t be happening.’ Right at that moment, I thought she was dead.”

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‘When’s the baby coming?’ My face turns red. I’m not pregnant. I miscarried back to back and gained 40 pounds in grief weight.’: Woman battling infertility reminds us ‘words have weight’

“I’m in Starbucks. I manage a smile and lie. ‘Soon.’ I rush out the door, no coffee in hand, and cry in my jeep. ‘When are you having kids?’ ‘Have kids already!’ ‘I’m ready to be a grandma. The clock is ticking!’ they say. But when I stillbirth? No questions, words. Just silence. My husband battles silent resent. ‘No baby, no marriage.’ These weren’t the vows I signed up for.”

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