“I spent years trying to sabotage my marriage in hopes he’d leave me for someone skinny. Day after day, I’d tell myself how nasty, disgusting, fat I was. I had no idea my gorgeous daughter was listening. She started saying how fat she was. How ugly. I was HORRIFIED. I knew I needed to make a change.”
“Our communication ceased, and nobody batted an eye. We all moved on with our own lives and didn’t take each other with us. It really is sad. But I guess, sometimes, family can be toxic enough to no longer serve us.”
“I was looking at the picture and thinking about how it’s so comforting when all of us can be represented in a photo. Anyone who knows our story would understand who that bear symbolizes.”
“I could see the light slowly start to leave him. Bullies picked on him relentlessly, girls cheated on him. He was crying almost every time I saw him. ‘Nathan, everyone hates me.’ I didn’t know how to help him. I felt a cold, deep fear, like the last bits of innocence leaving forever.”
“Ken had called everyone he could find in the Texas phone books with his surname. My dad immediately raced to the door. His voice trembled. ‘I never thought I’d see you again!’ They hadn’t seen each other in decades. We kept it a secret for two weeks.”
“We have been up all night comforting our child’s night terrors and when they finally wake up for the day, they are wild and feral as if they were shot out of a cannon. We find ourselves crying into bathroom towels, fearing this will be the final straw that causes our boss to fire us.”
“BAM! He dies of freaking brain cancer. Yeah, I was pissed. What in the heck was I going to do with the rest of my life? I bought a 200-year-old house on a whim. People in town told me stories of her ghosts. You’re the lady who bought that crazy old house, right?’ Yep, that’s me.”
“I remember it like it was yesterday. The test was on my nightstand. The second he saw the papers, his entire perspective shifted. He became finicky. But most of all, he was so cold. ‘Get an abortion or I’ll commit suicide.’ My heart shattered.”
“I met my adoptive dad while my bio dad and mom were still together. He was my uncle’s best friend. At 18, I made a board that asked, ‘Will you adopt me?’ He hugged me and cried. ‘Let’s get the paperwork started,’ he said without hesitation.”
“‘Mommy,’ my 3-year-old said, staring me down with venom in her tiny voice. ‘I FORGIVE YOU!!!’ The way she said ‘I forgive you’ made it sound like cuss words. I walked over to the bedside and leaned over. ‘Baby girl, do you know what forgiveness means?’”
