“It’s 3 a.m. and my face is wet with tears. I’m Googling, ‘Am I an alcoholic?’ I never thought I’d be here. I had a glass or two most weekends during pregnancy. Why does this keep happening?”
‘Why do you drink wine every night?’ I shrugged it off. It was my nightly ritual. This was the beginning of the end.’: Sober warrior shares alcohol-free journey, ‘It’s an amazing freedom’
‘You’ll never amount to ANYTHING.’ After a decade of living with the only family I knew, I was moved. I blew it again.’: Woman shares experience in foster system, ‘Thank you to the foster parents who love on us’
“I watched as we passed the downtown buildings, saw them fade. ‘Where in heck are they taking me?’ I BEGGED to go back home. I didn’t even have my sister with me.”
‘There’s a 92% chance.’ I had NO IDEA if we could handle it. But when we saw his almond-shaped eyes, our hearts were stolen.’: Mom births son with Down syndrome, ‘We are truly blessed’
“I had this perfect idea of what our lives would look like. I’ll never forget that phone call. ‘Your testing came back positive for Down Syndrome.’ I felt scared, but I also felt PEACE.”
‘Your boyfriend and his ex are traveling together? You’re okay with this?!’ I laughed, thinking about Corey driving Robin nuts the entire trip.’: Bonus mom shares co-parenting bond, ‘She makes me feel like part of the family’
“Some days I’m her confidante, some days her big sister, some days her disciplinarian. I love Corey to death, but right is right. When he’s screwing up and Robin gets painted as the bad cop, I say so.”
‘Babe, were you drugged?’ The entire right side of my body was limp. I opened my mouth but words wouldn’t come out.’: Stroke survivor details recovery journey, ‘I got a second chance at life’
“My head started spinning. The next thing I knew, I woke up lying on the cold bathroom floor. A team of nurses pulled out defibrillators. ‘Claire, can you hear me?’ It was excruciating. I couldn’t help but scream out.”
‘But I’m getting married!’ Our honeymoon was at the treatment center. Somehow I had become ‘the problem.’: Cancer survivor battles infertility, ‘This is the year we become parents’
“I didn’t understand what came out of her mouth after ‘hysterectomy.’ NO WAY! Not at the age of 30! I was the strong one, I refused to let anyone see my fear.”
‘Am I going to die?’ I woke to strands of hair on my pillow. My heart sunk. ‘I’m going to be bald.’ I lost my hair a week before prom.’: Teenager shares cancer journey, ‘It opened my eyes’
“I felt isolated from my friends. They viewed me as being fragile, but I was the same person as before. This shattered me. No matter what I did, I was always viewed as the cancer girl.”
‘It’s twins. Congrats!’ Josh was speechless. ‘Again?’ There were 4lb bundles in incubators.’: Gay dads experience surrogacy and have 2 sets of twins, ‘We were blessed twice’
“I will never forget kneeling at Josh’s desk as he opened the email to be greeted with one line. ‘You have twins.’ I looked at him and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ These words would double my dream.”
‘Why didn’t your REAL mom keep you?’ I arrived at the orphanage basically dying. I’m grateful for her sacrifice.’: Transracial adoptee shares journey, ‘Love is so much more than DNA’
“She made a difficult decision. I was severely malnourished, with bowed legs, and developmentally delayed. I lost my family AND my country. It’s traumatic.”
‘Are you sure you want to do this? He’ll be unfaithful.’ It felt like they had betrayed me. I started to doubt everything.’: Woman shares long-distance love story, ‘It’s SO worth it’
“Airport goodbyes are seriously the worst. All you have are phone calls and text messages. No more walks in the park. No more dates. It was easier for me to say, ‘That’s it. I’m breaking up with you,’ than let him in.”