“Let me tell you, this is a weird time to have a birthday. But do you know the nice part about a birthday during crisis? Loved ones still ‘show up.’ It might not be physically, but they are still there.”
‘Today my 80-year-old in-laws drove by to sing to me. ‘We know this isn’t the birthday you imagined, but we wanted a chance to see to you in person.’: Woman says ‘the power of human connection’ is stronger than ever
‘He’s taking my phone away. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.’ I barely hit send before it was ripped away and sent through the wall.’: Domestic abuse survivor says ‘I am taking my power back’
“I hid in the corner in a fetal position, trying to protect myself. I texted my best friend in a panic. ‘I just need someone to know I’m not dead.’ I barely hit send before my phone was sent through the wall. After I escaped barely alive, my dad gave my abuser a place to live on his property.”
‘You need to decide which baby you want to save.’ Inside, I was starting to unravel. The pregnancy was unplanned, let alone two babies!’: After difficult twin pregnancy mom says ‘God is always here for us’
“We’d worked so hard to get here to just go into labor now. It didn’t seem fair. I kept looking over at Ry for reassurance. Inside, I was freaking out. In my blind ignorance, I was telling myself this is something that shouldn’t be happening to us. ‘If they make it, it is because their trial has made them stronger.'”
‘My husband texted me a photo of her, sitting in the doctor’s office getting her pink cast on with her Mom. My heart hurt, but I couldn’t express it.’: Stepmom says the key is to ‘step up, step back, and step over’
“I burst into the tears during that scene and immediately excused myself to get more popcorn. I would give my two cents on Joe’s response to a text or an e-mail. Joe and I would end up fighting about a conflict that wasn’t between us to begin with! In the words of my dear friend Elsa… ‘Let it GO!’”
‘My husband doesn’t surprise me with flowers or celebrate our first date, but he always refills my drink without me asking.’: Woman says ‘marry the guy who sends you funny memes’
“I married someone who doesn’t make me feel ‘less than’ because he makes more money than me. Marry the kind of guy you want your daughters to one day date.”
‘I haven’t cleaned out a single closet or sorted a single pile, and neither have my children.’: Mom says ‘make the most of your time during quarantine, whatever that may mean’
“There is no grand prize for the person who emerges from quarantine with the tidiest yard, the newest recipes tried, or the longest list of books read. For some, getting through means doing less.”
‘I used to get in pictures with my kids and husband to take selfies, but everything feels and looks different now.’: After losing daughter to flu mom says ‘I will always and forever be beautifully broken’
“My life was ‘picture perfect,’ you could say. Now, I look at myself and I don’t know who that woman is. I have no idea who I am without her. A part of me died when she died.”
‘Today I’m going to grill our favorite foods and make s’mores!’ The next day: ‘Go fix your own food. I’m not moving off this couch all day.’: Mom of 4 shares hilarious reality of quarantine
“It’s either, ‘Come sit in Momma’s lap and let’s read a book!’ or ‘Please don’t touch me. I feel claustrophobic.’ I’m probably the most bipolar stay-at-home mom right now. Poor kids never know which Momma they’re gonna get!”
‘I kept asking, ‘Is my baby okay? Why has no one updated me yet?’ I don’t want to touch him. I don’t want to even look at him.’: Baby born with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, ‘They avoid us like the plague’
“‘Termination should be strongly considered,’ was rubbed into my face. For 2 weeks after his birth, no one but myself and my husband were allowed to see Preston due to isolation. Our 2-year-old daughter wasn’t allowed to meet her new little brother. I didn’t ever go a day without having hope.”
‘Right now I’m cherishing the everyday, the overlooked moments we take for granted.’: Mom of 3 says her lesson from isolation is ‘being present is better’
“I study my kiddos more. I just sit there and watch, observing them. It’s a good thing for life to be lived in the slow lane. I don’t want to forget.”