“Every birthday, when I blow out my candles, I use my one wish to wish my sibling could be able to walk and talk.”
‘You watch him in pain and feel the energy. Sometimes you feel robbed. This shouldn’t fall on your shoulders.’: Woman with special needs brother says ‘he taught me to be selfless’
‘I’m going to die young.’ I was drunk the day I took my SATs. I’d go days without eating.’: Single mom overcomes addiction, ‘I wanted to see my daughter grow up’
“While my friends were dreaming about their future careers, I was dreaming about booze. I’d carve words into my legs just to feel something. And then I got pregnant. The only thing I wanted for this child is to not feel how I felt.”
‘I asked my parents, ‘Why am I not like all the other kids?’ to which they replied, ‘That’s just how God made you.’: Young woman with Spinal Muscular Atrophy pursues career, ‘I found a way to make life happen!’
“I’d sit on the sidelines during PE while my peers played and had the time of their lives. I felt envy toward able-bodied children. I was that awkward girl in a wheelchair who didn’t know anybody. I didn’t fit in. One morning, I awoke to muscle loss in my hands. ‘But how will I create my art?!’ I had to find a way to make life happen.”
‘Breast is better,’ they said. I cried for days, unable to feed you. I heard I could never feel that connection with you because I didn’t nurse you.’: Mom shares emotional breastfeeding struggle
“I don’t know about letdown or leaking when a baby cries. I don’t know about raw or chapped nipples. I don’t have battle scars or badges of honor that are inscribed with, ‘Breastfed my baby until 2.’ None of it. But tell me, my sweet baby, did I love you any less?”
‘The officer said, ‘There’s been an incident at the pool.’ I expected stitches. ‘I’m going to get right to the point, Jason died tonight.’: Woman diagnosed with cancer after husband’s death, ‘I’m choosing to LIVE’
“We sat in a circle on a bedroom floor. ‘Last night daddy went swimming. His body died. He won’t come home ever again.’ One week after the funeral, I received a call: ‘You have cancer, and not the run-of-the-mill kind. It travels distantly and doesn’t always respond to treatments.’ The rubble of my life had just caught fire.”
We Adopted An Abandoned Girl With No Hands, Feet, Or Mouth—Because Everyone Deserves A Forever Family
“Her file labeled ‘harder to adopt’ arrived. It held pages upon pages filled with pictures, details, and medical records. We cried all the way through it.”
‘We’re working like our kids aren’t there, parenting like we don’t work. I knew giving birth was hard, but this is so much harder.’: Mom says ‘we make the impossible happen’
“I am not a working mom or a stay-at-home mom. I am both. Somehow, someway, us moms always make the impossible happen.”
I Overcome My Imposter Syndrome With This Simple But Powerful Tip
“I had major ‘imposter syndrome.’ I was obsessed with telling myself I wasn’t good enough.”
‘He was arching his back and screaming for air. Literally, panting. We were stuck. All we could do was pray and pack.’: Family returns from Guatemala after almost losing son
“I wanted to scream, ‘This baby strapped to my chest almost died last night. Our world is falling apart.’ Our dreams were shattered. We found ourselves back in our hometown looking for purpose.”
‘My mom called. ‘Your father didn’t come home last night.’ He always comes home. There was a truck lying in someone’s fence.’: Woman starts small business with help from late father’s support
“I took on 3 different jobs to pay tuition. My dad said, ‘Remember to always believe in yourself and you can accomplish it.’ Coming home from work, my husband was hit by a car on the freeway. I was unknowingly 8 weeks pregnant. We knew there was more we needed to accomplish together; our life did not end there.”