“Exactly 2 months later, my sister and two beautiful nieces were killed in a car accident. I heard phrases like ‘everything happens for a reason’ more times than I can count. I was told my sadness was a result of my lack of gratitude and my focusing on the negative. I was encouraged to move on, to forget, to focus on the positive and live in gratitude with love.”
“I wait on the stoop in my dirty sneakers until the street lights come on. Until the sky turns shades of pink and red, the same color as my broken heart. I wait until I hear the train go over the track. I keep telling myself I’ll wait five more minutes. I wait until another car drives down my block. It’s not the right color.”
“We received a phone call. ‘There’s a family member trying to take placement of him.’ From the first moment we saw his little face, we were in complete and total love.”
“Without hesitating or thinking, she washes bottles. Folds a blanket. Holds James so I can use the bathroom. Her love is instinctual.”
“‘This is like a DREAM. There are a million things I want to say, and at the same time, I can’t find the words. Just know I love you.’”
“’We DON’T get to make this decision. The court will move forward however they please.’ We always hear ‘the system is broken.’ It is.”
“I am not a supermom, I am a human. My children will gain so much more by seeing my flaws and imperfections.”
“All he wanted was to be the best father, husband, and provider he could be. I refuse to let addiction be his legacy.”
“She came barefooted, with only the clothes on her back. This little girl refused food and water for days and lay curled up on a sofa, wrapped in a blanket. We loved her dearly as our own.”
“Our love was beautiful and extraordinary for a good stretch, until it wasn’t.”
