“When she was put into my arms almost 23 years ago, the only thing I saw was a beautiful baby with huge eyes and the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen. In these times of sadness and heartbreak, I am reminded my daughter’s skin isn’t just a beautiful color of brown, but the reason she may not be as safe as I am.”
“As a child, you always told me, ‘While I gave birth to your three brothers, it was you I picked.’ You loved me just as much as the three sons you birthed from your own body.”
“I grew up in a dysfunctional home of drug addiction and verbal abuse. My parents got a divorce when I was 7 because my father had been having several affairs. When my wife approached me with the desire to foster, I felt unprepared. I’d experienced so much trauma in childhood, I only had examples of what not to do as a father. God had others plans.”
“I half expect people to say I’m being too sensitive, or paranoid. Only to be met with, ‘If you want me to say your name correctly, you should have a more American name.’ WE fear for our children as they get older, and I fear for him always.”
“Starting the conversation will be the most difficult part of this entire thing. But once you do, it gets easier.”
“This was not an easy task. We know they have more energy than we have after drinking three cups of coffee. This was going to be a challenge. We wanted to find something they would all be interested in and would last for years.”
“Racism is built on little assumptions and small biases that make people of color out to be ‘aggressive’ or ‘suspicious.’”
“There was this overwhelming sense I was the bad guy. She’s incarcerated and I’m not. I asked if she would like me to visit. I’m not going to lie, I did not expect to leave the way I did. I was sitting across from someone whose life choices, while pregnant, are the reason Henry will have a lot of challenges.”
“My heart has been so heavy the past few days. I have legitimately had a tight feeling in my chest and a pit in my stomach.”
“We found out we were expecting. Kyle was over the moon! ‘We got this,’ he reassured me. We were 6 weeks along. A few days later, I received one of the worst texts of my life: ‘Kyle is gone.’ I didn’t believe it. I was in major DENIAL. I pretended like nothing happened for a few hours until I decided to call the hospital for confirmation. I was carrying a dead man’s baby.”
