“My father would call me ‘sissy’ and ‘mama’s boy,’ and it hurt. A lot. Words like these never leave you. But it forced me to rise up.”
‘Dad repeated, ‘I put it in his hands!’ How could he have given his son lethal narcotics? I was frozen in shock.’: Man recounts brother’s overdose, homophobia, ‘Learn from your hardships’
‘I held my baby. ‘It will be difficult to have more.’ 3 months later, I had a positive test.’: Mom of 3 becomes foster parent, ‘This is where we’re supposed to be’
“The delivery was terrifying. I remember seeing bags of blood brought into the room. The doctor told me, ‘This will DEFINITELY be your last time carrying a baby.’ But I knew my family was complete.”
‘I don’t know who else needs to hear this, but it’s okay if you signed your kid out of virtual class early today.’: Mom reminds us ‘it’s okay if you don’t got this’
“You’re not a bad mom. Some days this less than ideal situation is less than less than ideal. It’s okay if you don’t ‘got this.'”
‘Dad takes broken things and makes them whole again, with the love, sweat, and all things great only a father can provide.’: Grieving daughter says ‘it’s not just houses he fixes, it’s people too’
“After my mother passed, he took my grief and wrapped it in humor and laughter. He took the darkness, and filled it with light. It’s not just houses he fixes, it’s people too.”
‘You think I’m a monster.’ What they’d been through was horrifying. Mom cried, the tears where you can’t breathe.’: Foster mom fights for reunification, ‘Their mom is the bravest person I’ve met’
“I saw their eyes when others asked them why they had a white mom, their faces as they kept justifying their family for the rest of their lives. ‘Of course the boys will always have a place with me, but this isn’t the end. You have to fight.’”
‘They told my husband, ‘Our entrees start at $50. You wouldn’t be able to afford that.’ We’d walked into an upscale restaurant for our anniversary dinner.’: Woman in interracial couple urges ‘color exists, and it’s beautiful’
“My husband is a loving, friendly, gentle father of 5, but he is not treated the same as everyone else.”
‘Her doctor burst in. ‘Where is she?’ He looked nervous. I wished for a second parent to defer to. But I didn’t have one.’: Daughter supports mom through terminal illness, ‘I hug her a little longer each day’
“For as long as I can remember, it has been the two of us. She kept up with all of her motherly duties despite being sick, fighting twice as hard because she knew she was all I had. I can never repay her.”
‘My two sisters went off to college, I went to prison. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t matter how you were raised.’: Recovered addict reminds us ‘addiction doesn’t discriminate’
“For every family member blaming themselves, racking their brain of where exactly it went wrong, beating themselves up, crying themselves to sleep, and thinking it was something they did…it’s not your fault. And it’s too heavy to carry.”
‘He’s going to leave you,’ it said. I cried and I shook. I wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember.’: Woman with endometriosis keeps fighting
“I called Will, asking him to come over so we could discuss my appointment. I told him I was terrified I’d lose my left ovary as quickly as it had taken my right. I cried and I shook, and he held himself steady.”
‘At 20, people judged our choice to get married. ‘You have to experience your single years and party it up.’ I didn’t want it. I wanted Marcus.’: Widow remarries after loss, ‘I love two incredible men’
“Then he went on a work trip and never came home. Our children were young, three under 5. I went from a blissfully happy marriage to having all of it ripped from me in an instant. And then came Dustin.”