“Mothers all over the world are literally being tortured. And I guess when you ask or complain about it, you’re met with, ‘Well if you can’t hack it then you shouldn’t have had kids.’ I mean calm down Betty.”
‘She decided at 5 a.m. that she wanted eggs. I was ready to snap. ‘Well if you can’t hack it then you shouldn’t have had kids.’: Mom suffering from sleep deprivation says ‘it’s okay for a mom to say she’s struggling’
‘I’m sorry, she is non-viable.’ Daddy held her so very close, tears in his eyes. He knew it was time. She gave us 60 minutes in pure heaven.’: Mom loses newborn to Bilateral MCDK, ‘She taught us nothing but pure love’
“I remember the drive to the hospital, telling Jose I wasn’t ready, that I couldn’t do this, and just crying. He grabbed my hand and told me, ‘Baby, no matter what happens today, no matter how long or short her life is, she will know if nothing else LOVE.’ Scared and shaking, I received her on my chest. Our 60 minutes in heaven started.”
‘There was no sugar-coating it. Her brain was bleeding. We we warned, ‘She may end up blind, deaf, or mute.’: Daughter born with hydrocephalus, ‘I find joy in every single second’
“She’s had 100 brain surgeries. I’ve sat alone in a waiting room in the middle of the night after signing consent forms for emergency surgery, not knowing how she was going to be when she made it out. If she made it out. But it’s obvious she’s not giving up.”
‘She anonymously set up a safety net of basics for a single mother. The seed blossomed and sprouted into another.’: Woman teaches the importance of ‘planting good’ during pandemic
“My friend shared that she was inspired on her way home from her essential job one day. She emphasized she used the word ‘inspired’ intentionally because the train of thought just appeared to her like a gift.”
‘This was not the motherhood you had planned for, but it won’t be any less. It will be more.’: Woman pens letter to the ‘mom who didn’t get a healthy one’
“You didn’t get the ‘healthy one.’ But still, you hold up your head, move forward, and smile. You never back down. Your motherhood was not the way that you planned. But today you love more—and stronger you stand.”
‘I was at the supermarket buying cake mix when I suddenly heard a loud crack. ‘This may sound strange, but I think my leg just broke.’: Young woman says ‘life is beautifully fragile’ after near-death accident
“I stumbled forward. A man stopped his shopping. I looked him dead in the eye. ‘This may sound strange now, but I think my leg just broke.’ People started gathering around me. Instead of taking my finals, I broke up with my boyfriend, began to lose my friends, and went from doctor to doctor. No one could explain what was wrong with me.”
‘I thought he had a cold. His eyes were watery. That Sunday when I got home, he was sicker than ever. It was time, we both knew.’: Woman adopts injured cat after losing childhood pet, ‘I learned how to open my heart’
“Ginger’s decline was quick but painful. I had to go away the weekend before he died, and I didn’t feel right about it. I convinced myself it was okay to go. He would bounce back like he always did. I was wrong. My cat of 17 years died on Valentine’s Day a few short months after I officially adopted him.”
‘I walked right into CVS with my mouth completely uncovered. I forgot to pull the cotton over my nose!’: Woman urges ‘be gentle, there is no right or wrong response’ during pandemic
“Panic and discomfort took over. ‘What are people thinking of me? OMG, are they going to kick me out? Arrest me?’ This new normal doesn’t feel normal at all.”
‘Someone put in an offer on our home in the middle of this pandemic. Our mortgage couldn’t be put on hold. We scrambled to live in a 6-feet wide trailer.’: Mom recounts 2020 regrets, ‘Everything happens for a reason’
“I had just been laid off. Maybe I should have put up with the terrible job that I felt might have killed me, to take a temporary one that ended New Year’s Eve. Amidst all this I get an awful and mean message from someone with whom I thought I got along, and no reason behind it.”
‘I got the call from her sister: ‘Things are bad. Come now if you want to say goodbye.’ I kissed the top of her head and walked toward the door, for the last time.’: Woman loses best friend to 15-year battle with anorexia, ‘She did not choose this’
“I rubbed lotion on her legs and changed her socks, tasks she could no longer do herself. I wanted so badly to find some way to at least make her more comfortable. Afterwards, I let the door close behind me. I was 29 and she 30, but I knew this was the last time I’d see my sweet best friend on this side of Heaven. She did not choose this.”