“He is not a ‘unicorn.’ Men like these exist. The kind who wash the dishes after you cook. Who do the yard work because they know you hate it. Who work 60+ hour work weeks and still come home and play with their kids. Who gives the kids baths and puts them down for bed.”
“The minute I left, I immediately felt eyes on the back of my head. Trust me, they weren’t admiring my beauty. I felt exposed.”
“I have 5 kids across three grade levels, K-2, and a 1-year-old. And yes, I chose to have 6 children. But I didn’t choose a pandemic. Nobody did. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what the better crappy option is. Because they’re all crappy options.”
“Your growth would probably be slower than other babies. You might have trouble walking or talking or eating or going to school. We wouldn’t know until we knew. One thing we knew: you are scrappy as hell.”
“Stay calm and rational. Kids need ‘alone time,’ just like we do. It’s the parents’ job to be in charge. It drives me nuts.”
“Every year, we go back to try to find it – that peace from this horrible grief. Except this year, they were closed. Just that night. To sanitize.”
“You know it isn’t good when the doctor sits down at eye level with you. Josh and I took turns holding Holden and crying. We could feel how they all pitied us. We prepared to fight.”
“I vented to a friend. I asked her, ‘What is wrong with me?’ She wrote back. There is only so much one can take.”
“As an adopted child, feeling like you are ALONE is often just a part of the territory. Feeling that way when I’d been given so much was difficult and made me feel so guilty. With sadness and the ever-growing ‘birth family’ hole in my heart, I moved forward with my life. These ‘search angels’ did more for me than they will ever know.”
“I don’t want to take that mental health risk, so I’ll send them. But, now I’m greedy and don’t care about the teachers. Okay, so I’ll send them… but, we have to skip Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday parties. Now, my kids are upset. They miss their family.”
