“‘You’re holding your baby too much.’ ‘Isn’t your baby too old to be breastfeeding?’ ‘You’re weaning soon, right?’ ‘Just let the baby cry. It’s good for their lungs.’ ‘You really need to put your baby on a schedule.’ ‘You better not eat the green beans. It will make your baby gassy.’ Here’s how to respond during the holidays.”
“I’m too busy letting my 6-year-old wear Cinderella underwear as a bathing suit. I’m too busy trying not to fight with my husband. I’m too busy wondering if that wet spot is from water, juice, or urine. I’m too busy apologizing to my kids for throwing away that ginormous popsicle stick art project they brought home from school. I’m too busy apologizing FOR my kids.”
“I’ve always known the ‘middle finger’ could cause a stir, but I never knew the lack of one could cause a bigger stir. When I got back to my room, they all looked concerned. The nurses ‘had never seen anything like this,’ and thought he’d be a good excuse for show and tell. I saw a beautiful, perfect baby boy, but the nurses and doctors saw something ‘different.’”
“‘They died? Why?’ Ira asked, concerned. ‘What happened?’ He shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. ‘Where they go? After they dead?’ ‘You know,’ I said tickling them, ‘You two are miracles. Our babies that didn’t make it out of my tummy alive are in Heaven.’ My boys would usually be distracted by now. ‘It has streets of GOLD. There is no crying, no sadness. No families are broken…we all live together. ‘We all live together there? Daddy too?’”
“While standing in the checkout line at Publix, I was graced by the presence of John Legend’s beautiful face. Phew. John Legend, y’all. He’s the Sexiest Man Alive. But is he really? Can he install a rear-facing car seat? Because THAT is SEXAYYY.”
“I forgot how to be a wife. Or, at least a good one. I lost my temper at absolutely everything. I was hurting him, because I was hurting inside.”
“It may make people uncomfortable. It may even make you cringe. But I will never stop talking about my children who died. I usually take the high road with ‘internet trolls,’ but for some reason, I responded. I will not be silenced.”
“I aspired to be a ‘businesswoman’ and make my family proud. I had no idea I was about to join a small team of all men who were both equally hated and respected by everyone in the department. People in the company started to wish me ‘good luck’ and apologize for ‘what was to come.’ The third stall in the women’s bathroom became my second home.”
“I’ve experienced too many instances of people taking selfies with Penny and posting them all over social media. Penny is not your ‘Disabled Best Friend,’ or a chapter in your Facebook Story. Please don’t exploit a non-existent relationship with a disabled child in a wheelchair to demonstrate to your friends and family how wonderful you are. She just wants to belong.”
“‘Do you guys know that Jesus loves you?’ Now normally, the idea of being stuck on a 14+ hour flight with someone who uses that line as an ice breaker would send me reaching for the airsick bag faster than you can say, ‘bad peanuts.’ But on this day, when I’d been praying like a mad woman for some little sliver of comfort – it was exactly what I needed to hear.”
