“No one should have to exist in the same room with the one who makes them want to vanish within it. I will not be part of a family who chooses my abuser over me.”
To My Second Family Who Takes Me In During The Holidays: Thank You For Choosing Me Over My Abuser
‘It’ll go away in its own, don’t worry.’ She had abnormal, starry blue eyes. I knew they had failed us.’: Woman gives birth to baby with Williams Syndrome
“We weren’t leaving this place without a diagnosis. ‘Don’t jump to any conclusions.’ She had a heart murmur and a low birth weight, but they still gave her the okay to go home. Little did we know our lives would soon change forever.”
‘You’re only 19 weeks, it’s too early.’ I was scared to hold him. But THAT was love at first sight.’: Woman’s baby born still after years of infertility, ‘he has changed my life, even when he is not here’
“’How far along are you? You aren’t due til November!’ My mom thought I was playing a trick on her, but she could see I’d been crying. My worst fear had come true. I knew I’d hate myself if I never took any photos, so I took an abundance. I needed to have that for my son. The worst part? Knowing it was the first and last time I’d ever hold him again.”
‘I’d like to give you a twenty. Is that ok?’ I passed it over. ‘Yes, yes. Thank you. I’m sorry. I just am having a real bad day.’: Woman is ‘changed’ after trying to help homeless man with simple act of kindness
“He turned toward me. Huffily, he said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m just really tired, and I have a terrible headache.’ This man was still ill-mannered and grumpy as hell, mind you, but at least he let me know why. He became human. He folded his sign and took the several steps to my window. The light was about to turn green.”
‘I couldn’t see him that way. ‘This is not real, this cannot be real.’ I didn’t go in, my beautiful boy was gone.’: Mom makes ‘brave’ decisions in her grief after losing son to suicide, ‘I choose not to torture myself’
“I chose not to wear black. It was the last occasion I would get to dress up for him. I wouldn’t attend his wedding, so I chose an outfit that would honor him and be celebratory. He was gone. All that was left of him was the shattered remains of a beautiful, perfect body he no longer wanted to be in. He chose his angelversary. He chose to leave us all behind and graduate to Heaven.”
‘Why weren’t we told this sooner? Obviously they suspected brain bleeds. Why didn’t we know?’: Newborn suffers brain bleeds in-utero, defies all odds to survive, ‘he’s leaving a trail of middle fingers behind him for the naysayers’
“My husband arrived just seconds before the doctor said, ‘He is out!’ I was certain he had died. I couldn’t stop shaking while they stitched me up. But he was perfect, with a surprising amount of thick, dark hair. ‘There’s a high likelihood he’ll never walk or talk.’ They asked if we wanted to stop life-saving measures. We stood our ground. He’d be our ‘wayfinder.’ We trusted he’d tell us in his own way if things became too much, and it was time to stop fighting.”
‘Mom! We’ve been in an accident! They can’t get Daddy to wake up.’ I asked if the airbags deployed.’: Woman loses husband in tragic accident, marries fellow widow, ‘My heart began to beat again’
“Eleven days later, I got a message from Todd. I had never met him in person. We began very innocent conversation about being ‘only parents’ to our children. We sat in that booth for 3 hours…. talking, laughing, crying. After we finally left, I sent a text. ‘I know I should be playing it cool, but I had a really great time. I’d like to do it again soon.’”
‘He’ll never be a dead-beat dad who got remarried and started a new life. And I refuse to be the evil stepmom.’: Bonus mom successfully co-parents with husband’s ex, ‘We all make the effort’
“When I first met my husband, he told me he was a single father to 2 handsome boys. Their mother got remarried and moved with them 4 hours away to another state. But, they made coparenting work. And together, us 4 parents became friends. We adopted two babies only 4 months apart last year. But every other Friday I leave from work to meet their mom 100 miles away. ‘Do you want to come stay with the boys while we go out of town, so they don’t miss school?’ Of course we said yes.”
‘He’s selfish. My husband is feet up, on the couch, quietly sipping his favorite beer, that I bought for him.’: Wife says despite her husband’s faults, she definitely ‘married up’
“When my husband and I sat down with our pastor for our first session of pre-marital counseling, my mind was a flurry of white noise, punctuated by red-hot panic. The one thing I do remember our pastor saying was, ‘The best marriages happen when both people think they married up.’ Damn, was he right.”
This Thanksgiving, I Refuse To Share What I’m ‘Thankful’ For
“Grief and gratitude can sit at the same table.”