“I know why opposites attract. It’s so I don’t spend our entire budget on kid’s clothes and coffee runs. You see the good in situations even when I swear it’s not there. You’d work till retirement, I lobby for vacation. That brick of a flip phone you carry keeps me grounded. All the things that drive me crazy about you make us work.”
“Keep being a nice person. But don’t get hurt repeatedly and believe there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ll regret a lot of things in life, but I assure you, responding to someone with kindness, grace and love will never be one of them. Also, you’ll sleep an awful lot better at night.”
“You’ll study her face and worry. What if she gets lost in the hall? What if she doesn’t make a single friend? What if she doesn’t think about you at all? Does she know every sandwich, every pool day, every morning we snuggled in bed, I didn’t want to be anywhere else? It’ll feel like forever ’til you see her little face on that sidewalk, but I guarantee you, it’ll be smiling. She’s a different kid. She grew up today.”
“The doctor walked in and bluntly said, ‘Welp, you have a broken back.’ My promising college baseball career was over. My girlfriend broke up with me. The crutches in my life that helped me ignore how unhappy I was with my body were GONE. My moment of clarity didn’t come from a diet fad. It came in a ‘toilet moment’. I was simply disgusted with myself.”
“As I’m consoling my daughter who is on the verge of tears, the mother swam over to me and began shouting at me to not speak to her children like that. Her response, ‘ Well, only one of them is my child. The other is a friend we brought with us from next door. They didn’t do that, and you will not speak to them that way.’ I won’t lie, I saw red. That was it for me.”
“To the girl in love with an addict, I saw you sit in your car alone at halftime and breakdown. I see you and your fake smile. Don’t worry, they all still believe you’re fine. You’ve gotten so good at crying hard, getting it all out fast, and getting back to your seat before anyone even realizes you’re gone. Please don’t let him make you think his addiction is your fault. This has nothing to do with you at all. You deserve better than this.”
“The doctor yelled to get the NICU team as soon as possible. They came in so fast we could hardly get a picture. I don’t remember anything afterwards except that my husband googled her syndrome based on her appearance, and I was left alone in the delivery room. No husband. No baby. I asked for a Diet Coke. They only had Diet Pepsi.”
“There are people out there longing to feel connected. To feel seen. All it takes is one smile. One hello. Buy a coffee for the person behind you. That waitress busting her butt at the diner? Tip her and tell her how much potential she has. Send that text. We live in times I never wished for my children. I’m not naive to it. But, I refuse to let evil and hate paralyze me.”
“Inexplicable things started happening. I looked pregnant. Everyone poked fun at me napping every day. I sat in the parking lot of my doctor’s office with yet another pamphlet for painful periods. Every ounce of me wanted to run back and tell him to figure it out! Instead, I put my car in reverse and drove away in tears. Silenced, once again. I was absolutely losing my mind.”
“My husband swiftly removed her multiple times, as I said, ‘Mommy will be done in a minute baby, I am right here.’ I need someone to look me in the eyes and say, ‘I know you’re not okay.’ My daughter did just this for me. I try to hold it together for my child, but she knows. We sat like this for an hour. It was one of the most beautiful gifts anyone could give me.”
