“My father had passed away. ‘What do you mean?’ I was a little confused. ‘When he was in your tummy, grandpa played trains with me in my room. He said he was going to be my baby brother now so we could play trains together all of the time soon.’ I stood there, truly taken aback.”
“There have been decisions Steph and I have made as parents that we know our children may have opinions on. If one day my children question them, I hope my heart is proud to have raised children who can think for themselves.”
“The artwork on the walls is full of shamrocks and gold, rainbows, and leprechauns. Spring was right within their grasp. They said, ‘I’ll see you in a little while.’ A little while has gone on longer than anyone imagined it would, but in that classroom, time stands still.”
“Despite being reminded, he usually forgot in his mad dash to grab his keys and rush out the door. And that stepmom? Well, she got really annoyed by it. I worried he’d never learn the value of taking care of things, the value of helping others out, or being aware of his surroundings.”
“You yell at your children to just ‘listen, for goodness sakes,’ but can tune those monkeys out like it’s nobody’s business. You gain 50 pounds and yet you’ve never sat down to have a proper meal ever! You spend all day waiting for those stinkers to go bed, but when they fall asleep, you stare at their little faces, your heart so full of love.”
“Nothing can or should justify why I engaged in a virtual online affair with someone else while being with you. I am explaining what led me to doing it, and why it meant nothing to me. It’s here, in this moment, that I broke and made the worst decision in my life.”
“There I was, a single 26-year-old woman. I can’t relate to abuse. I can’t relate to being moved to 5 different foster homes in a 4-month time frame. I can’t relate to being homeless and sleeping in a car. But what I can do is wrap my arms around them, hold them, and tell them their story doesn’t end here.”
“She was my understudy. A woman I would never know. We didn’t want to have to explain why I gave birth to a half Asian baby. By this point, we had spent SO MUCH MONEY, and to walk away without trying one more option seemed like we just blew it all for nothing.”
“You picked on her. You were extra rough and rambunctious as a toddler. You were jealous. It was hard. I made it a point to explain…over and over again… if you were on the same side, at least you’d always have a friend. I’m awestruck when I see you protecting her from harm.”
“I get defensive about anything and everything. I immediately feel like everything is my fault and there is no way I can be enough. I turn into someone who is unrecognizable to the people who know me, as I’m simply the worst version of myself.”
