“It’s funny how you spend most of your life doing everything in your power to NOT get pregnant. Then you get older, get married, and some have to do everything in your power TO get pregnant. We sat there, listening to every word my doc said, but all I heard was, ‘You can’t have a baby.’ We’d have to pay $17,000. I immediately felt all the blood drain from my body. $433 a MONTH for a child we didn’t even know if we were going to get.”
“I sit next to her. ‘Let’s take a picture together…’ So we touch noses, and I take the picture. SHE WASN’T IN IT. ‘That’s super weird, we were touching noses. How did you miss me!?,’ she says. ‘There isn’t a ‘remove wife from this photo’ option on a Polaroid, Sarah! How would I be doing this?!’”
“‘Your son either has an infection, or he has leukemia.’ My heart stopped in that moment. I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to take my son home, or if I was going to lose him.”
“Thank you so much for your concern, but I got it. His feet are bare, but he is fine.”
“Now when I look at this picture, I see something beautiful. I see a mother who has entered into uncharted territories, who is sacrificing all her being.”
“My responsibility to feed the family, keep the house clean, and take care of the kids is assumed, even as I return to work.”
“The exact second I stepped into my daughter’s hospital room was the very second the surgeon threw his hands in the air and said, ‘That’s it. There is nothing else we can do.’”
“This nameless mother called me at the gay bar I work at for advice on how to respond to her son. ‘I don’t want to say anything that may mess him up.’ It really warmed my heart. I’ll never be able to stress just how lonely being an LGBT American can feel. We live in the closet out of fear of rejection. I told her exactly what any of my friends, or bar patrons, or any LGBT person would say: ‘Tell him he is loved and accepted.’”
“I’d waited my entire life to be a mom, but I always felt sick, exhausted, and couldn’t even do small tasks. I was so tired of being overweight! My fitness plan was going great until I received shattering news. ‘The day you meet your son may also be the day you say goodbye.’ I went from feeling on top of the world to hearing the worst news any parent could hear.”
“Joey began calling Ellie his girlfriend. He tells us he is going to marry her. When they see each other outside of school, they immediately hold hands, hug and look into each other’s eyes. It is as if they know something we do not.”
