“A lot of people tell you how you should move on. You hope you’ve turned out to be every bit like Grandma. You dodge the card aisle because you can’t bring yourself to read them.”
‘Not even Amazon Prime can deliver a gift to Heaven. You run to the phone hoping this time it will say ‘Nana Calling.’: Granddaughter says Grandparents Day ‘looks different’ after your grandparents die
‘I love watching you play.’ This is the ONLY thing a child needs to hear from a parent after a game.’: Sports mom says children need to know their worth ‘isn’t measured by wins or losses’
“Parents. Stop the madness. The lectures. The play-by-plays. The should’ve, could’ve. Look around and you’ll see on every court, field, ball park…all the talk. How would it feel for someone to criticize your every word or move, in your ear? Even when they didn’t score, even when they didn’t win, even if they turned over the ball, flubbed up, or missed the catch, our kids need to be praised for their effort.”
‘Almost there, almost there.’ I watched him struggle. I knew something was going on in his heart.’: Adoptive mom reminds traumatized son he isn’t ‘alone’ anymore
“That first summer he came, all I can remember is the rash that covered my body for 6 months. It was my body’s way of telling me it was too much. I didn’t know how to be a mama to a then 7-year-old. As I walked beside him, I told him he never has to do that alone anymore. He looked up at me with his chocolate brown eyes. ‘Mommy, it sure is much easier to carry things together.’”
‘I’m often mistaken for being lazy or spoiled. The dirty looks I get would shock you. I may look like a typical 23-year-old, but I’m not.’: Woman with multiple ‘invisible’ chronic illnesses refuses to let struggles ‘overcome her joy’
“My determination isn’t disabled, my fire isn’t disabled, but my body is. For a long time, this was hard to admit. I do my best to show up every day, but it’s not always enough. I can practically smell the resentment from my coworkers. My boss stopped believing me and asked for a ‘doctor’s note.’ Instead, I ended up hospitalized. ‘Is this good enough?’ I snarkily asked. I know I should keep my mouth shut, but I really can’t help myself. The struggle is REAL.”
‘In just a matter of minutes—everything was gone. How did I get played like this? I felt like a complete fool. I was so humiliated.’: Woman reflects on her husband’s infidelity and sex addiction and how they overcame these trials.
“I got a text from my husband. ‘Hey, I’m coming home. I need to tell you something. Cathy is going to meet me there.’ Cathy was a close friend and mentor to me. Why would she need to come also? I sat on my couch with my 4-month-old girl on my lap. My husband confessed he’d cheated with a woman he worked with. A woman who listened to me pour out my heart about my struggling relationship with my husband only one week before.”
‘Don’t take her home with you,’ I was told. ‘If you have other kids, she’ll be a detriment to them.’ How wrong they were.’: Mom keeps baby, now world’s first ‘working model’ with Down Syndrome
“I’d never taken Madeline to a fashion show before because she was always sick. When her health increased, we walked in as I thought to myself, ‘What have I done?!’ I knew full well my daughter would want to be on that catwalk, too. Sure enough, after the show, she turned to me and said, ‘Mom. Me. Model.’ I’m the type of mom to do whatever I can to make things happen. Little did I know what this all would turn into.”
‘I was going to kill myself, but I smiled. I laughed. All of it an act. I was just biding time.’: Young man urges others struggling to ‘talk to someone’ because you are not a ‘burden, weak’
“I came home early on a Sunday morning. Still drunk from the night before. I had a plan. I executed my plan. I say this next part with absolutely no dramatization; if my wife had stayed in bed for another 10-15 seconds, I would absolutely be dead. I would’ve been dead that morning. I owe my life to her. And I wouldn’t be here to tell you that things get better.”
‘I need to apologize to my kids. I haven’t been the best mom. I wasn’t supposed to be a mom without him.’: Widow says she was ‘impatient, irritable’ after husband’s death, admits she ‘didn’t know how to do it’ by herself
“Someone along the way decided to label us as ‘adults.’ Now we’re required to work and pay bills. We have to go to parent-teacher conferences and figure out Common Core. And some days, I just don’t want to. Some days, I just want to go back to when the nights were long, and the phone calls were longer. But, most importantly, I want to go back to when my husband was alive.”
How This Doting Sister Supports Little Brother Battling Childhood Cancer
“She supported him and she took care of him, regardless of the situation. To this day, they are closer. She always takes care of him.”
‘Are you ready to hold your baby?’ She takes a deep breath, sits up as straight as she can. We’re very careful.’: Child loss photographer reminds grieving parents ‘this little life mattered’
“The room is still, almost silent. I meet their beautiful baby, I hold their baby, talk to their baby. All while taking a mental assessment of how much posing I can do. I ask who he got his beautiful wavy hair from, or his button nose or long toes. I talk, but not too much to overwhelm anyone. I work gently, efficiently. I capture every single detail. No one wants this. Their child existed. Their child was so loved, and so wanted.”