“We went from talking almost every night to talking almost every month. ‘Shelainea, you need to tell your mom.’ The divorce took a toll. She changed for the worst. ‘You shouldn’t be going through my phone!’ I couldn’t believe she was doing this to me.”
“A few weeks after my first child was born, I called my OB in desperation. ‘I don’t feel good,’ I said. ‘I’m not connecting with the baby. I’m so tired, I don’t think I can do this.’ The most common gift I received after childbirth was alcohol.”
“Overnight, I woke up ill. I was met with disbelief and put-downs. ‘Girls your age struggle with anxiety.’ I struggled to walk up stairs. I would wake up from a full night’s sleep and need to go back to bed an hour later.”
“My husband and I had a day date this past weekend. I predicted he would say something like, ‘Why don’t you try to get a better routine going, be a bit more organized, and plan more?’ He didn’t, though. And then, he went a step further.”
“Truthfully, when I didn’t have the rolls, I still questioned if I was ever whole, or worthy, or enough. I’ve got something to say. *AHEM*.”
“One day, I hope when the world sees my son, they see Anderson. One day, I hope they see his humanity.”
“I was already worrying about the next school year. Some of my students, I fell in love with right away. Others, it took a little more time. Will you give them that time? When you struggle with them, maybe it will help if you think of all the teachers who loved them for years. If you need help, I’ll be here.”
“My 11-year-old self ran to my bedroom, fighting back tears. I didn’t know when I would see them again or even where they were. My husband blurted out, ‘We should look into that.’ ‘Into being foster parents?’ They were only 5 and 3 years old. They would be so scared. I wanted to be the nice foster mom.”
“It’s not supposed to be this way. I started teaching 15 years ago. Never did I think I’d be navigating teaching during a pandemic. Children who have been home for months are now going to be in my classroom. I honestly can’t believe it’s come to this.”
“‘Well, schools wouldn’t be opening if they didn’t think they could keep the kids safe, right?’ But then I see these counties in Georgia with hundreds of cases after schools opened. I think about my 72-year-old mother currently living with me and wonder if I’m making the right decision.”
