“’Mommy, I’m just sad and don’t know why.’ My heart broke for him. There were no goodbyes.”
‘He screamed in frustration and my heart broke into a thousand pieces. ‘It won’t be like this forever.’: Mom shares difficulty explaining quarantine to her child, ‘How is he expected to understand?’
‘One day, he will fit the description. How will I protect my autistic son from his skin?’: Special needs mom urges ‘it is not my responsibility to end racism’
“Caleb is autistic and struggles with comprehending and engaging in conversation. My reality is that I can’t have race conversations. I don’t know if he will ever understand.”
‘I got pregnant. My father said I ‘ruined his reputation.’ A black family was not welcomed.’: Woman in interracial marriage says ‘my family is a symbol of unity’
“People would approach our daughter and ask if she was lost and needed help finding her mommy. We were followed and harassed by cops sometimes for miles while we drove. They demanded to know if he was a gang banger.”
‘His skin crawls, he can’t communicate, and he never sleeps. I was going to ‘fix’ my son, it would not win.’: Mom of Autistic son details acceptance of his diagnosis; ‘I’m proud of him’
“I isolated myself and refused to leave the apartment. I canceled therapies, stopped cleaning and cooking, sobbed, and threw things. I finally emerged from the fog.”
‘I left widow groups because my loss doesn’t get compassion like others.’: Woman reflects on overdose awareness day, ‘I loved him and he loved me’
“People ask me all the time if I knew. What I knew was that I loved him. I spend a lot of time asking who is to blame.”
‘Then cancer struck. It’s hard to be single in a sea of married people. Friends dragged me to the next step.’: Widow is grateful for ‘friend family’ who carry her through life
“They stand by me through the hardest times of my life. They have most recently watched me lose myself in someone who was not worthy of my time. They include us in family gatherings, and their husbands step up when my daughter needs a father figure in her life.”
‘He was 9 years older. I thought he was my everything. As soon as I hit the top of the stairs, my heart started racing. ‘I love you. Something is wrong.’: Woman with Tachycardia starts weight loss journey
“I started sweating and it didn’t stop. I should have called 911 but I called my husband. I told him I loved him and something was wrong. May 20th was the day my life changed forever. I never believed I was allowed to smile or be happy because no one was ever nice to me.”
‘Is he walking yet?’ I got defensive. I gave a long-winded response, explaining everything else he was doing as if it were an issue.’: Mom urges ‘don’t rush milestones’
“He is 12 months old and still not walking. Why is it we want to rush the milestones instead of embracing them being babies for just a little bit longer?”
‘We received an email out of the blue: ‘It’s time, you can bring your children home now.’ I choked back tears. We waited 22 months.’: Couple adopt two children into ‘forever family,’ now family of 7
“10 minutes after turning off the light, I whispered, ‘Are you asleep?’ Stephen turned the light back on. We had to make a decision about bringing two children into our family solely based on pictures. ‘These were the children God sent to us, so, what is there to discuss?’ That was the moment they began to grow in our hearts.”
‘I couldn’t walk away once, but twice, and not see them again.’: Woman loses 2 babies to congenital muscle disease
“I didn’t want anyone to die, especially not my child. Especially not two of my children. But that’s what happened.”