“I cried over him. I lost weight over him. I stayed in bed for a week over him, and then went out every night for a month over him. I kept running it over and over in my head, completely melted into my mess thinking, ‘God, why? I don’t deserve this.'”
“On our wedding day, by the end of the night, he was drained. The morning after, he slept in late because he was so exhausted. The night we celebrated his life, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive. It felt like a complete surprise, until I went for the ultrasound. My heart skipped a beat. July 27th was the due date. Jesse’s birthday.”
“All of a sudden, a large cloud of smoke starts creeping in – and fast.”
“There is a difference between meanness and bullying. I know from my own experience being bullied. I see what the signs are in my own boys if they’re struggling in school with a bully or a mean kid. Here are some ways you can tell if your child is being truly bullied.”
“I see you running your child to therapy when friends take their kids to Little League. I see you slipping out the of conversation when your friends are all chiming in about milestones and test grades.”
“Love your tired, hardworking, exhausted, wife.”
“This is very uncommon for your age. We normally don’t see anything like this in people under the age of 50. You need to have all the kids you want before we remove it. We will leave it in until you can’t handle the pain from it anymore.”
“Mothers, if we don’t have each other’s backs like this, then how can it be a smooth experience for all? This is a village and it only works if we all do our part.”
“The pain came back with a vengeance. We watched our beautiful, vibrant, sassy daughter waste away. Then his girlfriend’s mother got an urgent phone call. ‘Can you please tell Wade?’ I held that 6-foot, 175-pound boy. I rocked him as he asked if he would lose her. He says they are his strength, and the girls say he is theirs.”
“I feel as if I failed him as a parent, I didn’t protect him from this environment. But the scariest part was the fear in his eyes.”
