“You are still the same person physically, with a couple of extra pounds stacked on, chowing down Doritos and binge drinking cheap wine on the couch while watching home movies and bawling for days on end. But inside, you are forever altered.”
‘She should be here to watch them grow up. I want the love of my life back.’: Widowed single dad creates new normal, ‘I’m different now and that’s OK’
‘I sit with one eye answering emails, the other on my son who stares at schoolwork like it’s a hate crime.’: Dad says ‘don’t feel bad, we’re all struggling’
“I continue to try and not get fired, which usually means I give up after 30 minutes and send them into the backyard with the hose, so I don’t end up dropping them off on church steps. Which really isn’t a possibility because churches are closed, but it’s the image I need to keep going.”
‘The Great Pause,’ I’ve heard it called. I’d been making emotional progress. Then Covid happened.’: Mom says ‘forget your 5-year plan’ after losing daughter to epilepsy
“It’s been six months since my daughter died.”
‘I hear, ‘Your virginity is a gift to your future spouse.’ Once you cross ‘the’ line, you can never have your purity back.’: Woman advocates for others to be ‘true to ourselves’
“Your lack of sexual experience and ignorance about what you like and want in the bedroom–Oooo, fun! ‘Because once you cross ‘the’ line, you can never have your purity back.'”
‘One minute I’m happy, savoring these little moments together. The next, I’m waiting for it all to end.’: Woman says ‘you don’t have to savor every moment, it’s OK to be hanging on by a thread’
“Three months ago, I had it all mapped out. Now, I cry over toilet paper. I’ve cried for my 3-year-old who misses his Mamo and Papa, or as my toddler begs me not to have another meeting. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster. And not a fun one either, more like the kind that makes you want to throw up.”
‘Last night we learned of the death of a toddler his age as we watched the news. Emergency rooms aren’t filled with kids like him.’: Mom of special needs child says ‘the least I can do is keep my family out of your care’
“I found myself grasping for perspective. There isn’t anything that will stop a parent of a special needs child for being there when their kids need them, not even COVID-19. The least I can do is work to keep my family out of your care.”
‘On the way into the house, he slipped and smashed his head onto the floor. ‘I cannot take this kid to the ER right now.’: Mom realizes ‘big feelings’ toddler is wrestling during quarantine
“My patience was pretty thin, and I snapped at him. What else did he want??? And then the tears kept coming. I took a longer look at that little pudgy boy in his pjs, crying over nothing. And I realized, more clearly than I have all week, that he’s not crying over nothing.”
‘She’s 12 years old and has her first job. Four days a week. I don’t know about you, but I know for sure I wasn’t doing this.’: Mom proud of 12-year-old for first job, ‘There is not a sliver of my younger self in her’
“It’s about way more than money. If this is any indication of what the future holds, I could not be more excited.”
‘This week I cried over potato chips. My husband asked what was wrong. As I said, ‘Nothing,’ I burst into tears. Big, wet, ugly, stupid, wracking sobs.’: Mom says ‘no matter how great or small our stress, we are all hurting’
“A little piece of me needed them. While my husband held me and let me sob out my disappointment over the lack of Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles, we both understood that it wasn’t really about the chips at all.”
‘Our 2-year-old went from no pee-pee accidents to 3 a day. Our 10-year-old started to baby talk and ask me for water when she’s totally capable.’: Mom of 7 reminds us ‘regression’ is normal
“Yet nearly every morning, my husband makes and brings me a cuppa.”