“It doesn’t matter how many times someone tells you, ‘You’re a good mother,’ all it takes is that one person to shoot you a look when you pick up your phone for one second at the park. One person to comment on your kids’ screen time. One person to look at you like you’re a monster for feeding your kids nuggets.”
“‘Your voice sounds SO familiar.’ They almost dropped their phone. I was overjoyed and heartbroken all at once. No matter how he came to us, he has always been meant to be my son.”
“Last week after posting a photo of our family, I started receiving comments centered around my ‘baby weight,’ how much I’ve gained or how quickly I’ve gained it. I’m not going to lie, I noticed.”
“I like rules. I like structure. I like good behavior. And when I’m faced with a lack of any of those three, it makes me incredibly anxious.”
“Let me tell you, hunny… your place? It’s anywhere you are; it’s anywhere you want to be; it’s any place you take and park yourself.”
“Normally, when I see a picture of myself that I haven’t ‘posed’ for, I never post it. But not this time. He snuck this picture of me and my daughter. I don’t ever want to forget it.”
“I can’t wait to know more about the you before me, but right now it’s ‘us.’ As I fall asleep. As we breathe each other in. When I wake, again and again, searching for you, you’re searching for you, too. You are my constant.”
“I will never be crafty, soft spoken, fashionable parent, but that’s okay. Because I am the mom I was always supposed to be, with the kids that were destined to be mine.”
“After a dreadful ride home, I walked into the bathroom with my mom. 16-year-old me stood there, already knowing what the outcome of the pregnancy test would be. Two lines. My mom and I started crying. I fell to my knees. ‘What am I going to do? I was supposed to graduate. I was supposed to go to college.’ My mom looked down at me, ‘You will.'”
“I cried my eyes out. They chalked it up to being more prevalent if you were young, Black, and poor. I prayed she would be born alive.”
