“The doctor scanned me and said, ‘I’m so sorry.’ It was the worst day of my life. I was grieving for one baby while trying to stay strong for the other.”
‘Twin one is okay, twin two has passed.’ I felt my heart ripped from my chest. I didn’t want to let go.’: Mom grieves loss of twin, ‘She’s our guardian angel’
‘My niece emerged with a paper. ‘Here, Aunt Melissa, it’s for you.’ My eyes filled with tears. She gave me a reason to keep going.’: Woman battling mental illness realizes ‘love knows no boundaries’ after emotional surprise
“As someone battling mental illness who is often alone in her thoughts and without close friendships, it has been years since I’ve really felt ‘seen.’ One day, I will tell her she gave me a reason to keep going.”
‘I used to think losing weight was easy. Give up the donuts or wine, take a walk every day. Then I hit my 30s and had 3 kids.’: Mom talks candid reality of ‘weight struggle bus’
“Then I hit my 30s and had three kids. For anyone I silently judged along the way…boy was I wrong, and I’m so sorry.”
‘The retail worker uttered, ‘You have a flat butt…’ I left the store with no pants and feeling less than.’: Woman thanks rude employee for teaching lesson on body positivity
“She came back with, ‘I mean, you don’t have a Kim Kardashian butt.’ I want to thank her now. She made me better, and my butt never changed.”
‘I clung to fake hope if I didn’t say anything, they’d love me.’: Asian man shares experiences with racism in wake of hate crimes
“One girl who I really had a crush on made the ‘chink eyes’ as a joke, so I played along, did the same thing. She said, ‘You don’t have to do that.’ I went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror at my chink eyes, and cried.”
‘I shot heroin into my IV while in the hospital.’: Recovering addict shares sobriety journey, ‘I’m moving forward’
“I gave birth to a baby boy. My life was no longer mine to destroy.”
‘Please be able to talk to me one day.’: Mom to son with autism says ‘he is truly perfect’
“I was drowning in the most overwhelming grief I had ever felt. The denial was VERY real.”
‘Can you remove this freckle? I think it’s ugly!’ He examined the skin of my cold, nervous body. I felt like life was playing a joke on me.’: Melanoma survivor shares cancer journey
“My heart was racing. ‘Please tell me I don’t have cancer!’ I cried and punched the steering wheel. My whole world came to a screeching halt.”
‘Shhhh, just keep walking.’ You taught her NOT to see my son.’: Special needs mom urges ‘ask the questions’
“In ONE sentence, you taught your daughter to ignore someone with a disability; to ignore someone who is different.”
‘I waddled into every appointment alone. There was no babymoon, no one fawning over my pregnant belly.’: First-time mom gives birth during pandemic, learns ‘what resilience looks like’
“I couldn’t go shopping for baby clothes or nursery furniture. I went through this alone. Then the silver lining of this crazy pandemic showed itself.”