“Having breastfed my little one for 18 months in a sleep deprived haze, the day after I stopped, I quickly went back to bad habits. All of a sudden I was ‘allowed’ to drink in excess again. I thought this was what I deserved. It was my time. ‘Wine o’clock’ was always on my mind. When 5 p.m. came, I took that as my cue for freedom. I started to drink myself into a state of numbness.”
“What looked like ash started falling from the sky, followed by a HUGE fireball. I was on the 32nd floor in the stairwell when the second plane hit. The force of the impact threw me up against the wall. Once we got across the street, I stopped, looked up and saw the buildings with huge flaming holes. I swear to you I looked at my friend and said, ‘Do you think we’ll have class tomorrow?’”
“I walked home in a dress, but no underwear. I told my mom and dad I was staying with a friend, and then went into the operating room to have my right fallopian tube removed along with the baby that would never be. I went home the next day and said, ‘I feel like I have the flu’ and went straight to bed. My cry for help didn’t work. Nobody noticed. Nobody asked if I was okay. I knew if I didn’t start fighting for myself, I’d end up dead.”
“I felt awful, like I had hundreds of other mornings. But this day, something was different. My friend told me a story of my actions. While blacked out, I ran behind the bar where my ex worked. I started hitting him. Something in me snapped. THAT was my breaking point. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was quiet for a moment, then I said with tears in my eyes, ‘That’s it. I’m done.’”
“This stage of life? It’s hard, you guys.”
“It’s hard to see the reward through the to-do lists, apathy, and crumbs on the kitchen floor.”
“For a split second, I looked to my husband and thought, ‘What did you—wait, it couldn’t have been you. You can’t be the father.’ Wait, did I? I was delirious and BAFFLED. Neither my sister, my best friend, nor husband said a single word. We were in complete shock.”
“My dad called me. Someone on social media had messaged my sister telling her that our mom had passed away. I broke down. Crying uncontrollably, I couldn’t breathe. My 2-year-old son didn’t understand why his mommy was so upset. All I ever hoped for was now shattered. She was gone, the mom I needed. We waited for the coroner to confirm it. Meth and heroin mixed together. That was the last straw. I never meant to hate her, but sometimes I did.”
“She went from surpassing all her milestones to not being able to walk, drink, or eat. I was tired of going home from the hospital with no answers, the typical run around from doctors. One day, with 10 residents, 5 doctors, and 4 nurses in front of me, I said, and I quote, ‘Discharge her again and I promise I’ll sue every single person standing in this room.’ Needless to say, they ran every test. I now know that instead of her burying me, I’ll be burying her.”
“I walked into my dad’s room and sat with him as he laid there. He was feeling anxious. He told me he couldn’t breathe. To get Mom. We phoned my grandparents to say their goodbyes. They told my Dad it was ‘okay, he could go home.’ My dad waited as my husband walked through the doors. ‘When did he pass?,’ my husband asked. ‘Right now,’ I replied. My father waited for the man he knew could hold me through this wretched pain.”
