“Saying ‘I love you’ when they are going to bed is not nearly enough. You can’t be over-present. They want our time. Our warmth. Our interest in their lives. There are many fathers who aren’t engaged enough (or at all) with their daughters. That crushes me. This is one of life’s most honorable privileges.”
“She cries and tears flood her face. She mumbles through broken sobs, ‘He doesn’t love me anymore. He isn’t the man he used to be.’ The therapist leans in. ‘Look at her face. Tell me what you see, tell me what you feel. Ignore what your mind tells you, and listen to your heart.'”
“One of my customers had a really bad-tempered Rhode Island Red rooster. He’d attack me every day and claw at my legs. I’d fight him off, but after a few months of delivering papers, the rooster was decidedly ahead and I was starting to get angry. One day he came charging at me. I decided I’d had enough.”
“Just because they don’t live the life we do or make the same choices we do doesn’t mean they’ve somehow screwed up. It doesn’t mean they are lost. It doesn’t mean they have ruined their lives. All we can do, as parents, is love them for who they choose to be and trust what we have taught them is enough.”
“I would never hand one of my kids off to a complete stranger. But you weren’t a stranger. Despite never knowing you. Despite your broken English and my zero ability to speak Spanish. For over half an hour, I watched as you sang to him, snuggled him, and loved on him. As I watched your son, my heart soared as I saw my future. And I know as you looked into the almond eyes of my boys, you saw your past.”
“I said, ‘This isn’t happening. This is a false alarm.’ I had a tough decision to make. Do I go with our soon-to-be daughter, or do I stay with our expectant mom? She reassured me, ‘You are supposed to be with your baby.’ These types of mothers are part of the miracle.”
“I awoke 2 hours later to my cell phone ringing. I had missed several calls from my husband. I picked up the phone, breathing heavily, and my husband was immediately alarmed. He asked me if he should call an ambulance, and I said no, hung up, and went back to sleep. The next thing I knew, he was home and stuffing me into the car.”
“My head was feeling all over this morning. I just really wasn’t feeling myself and was being consumed by negativity. ‘Yes, Mommy needs to calm down. Let’s get coffee, baby.’ I made an example out of myself to her.”
“‘Girl, run the other way!’ My husband told me a story tonight about a couple who’d been together many years and decided to divorce. ‘They still loved each other, but have become different people.’ They were together for 22 years. This made me so so sad.”
“I was always able to easily satisfy people’s curiosity about our beautifully mismatched family. Until now.”
