“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.”
“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.”
“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 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.”
“Out of nowhere I got VERY sick this afternoon, so my husband sent my butt to the ER. When you’re sick you want your mama, your sister, your brother, your dad, your friends. You want your support system. I finally broke down and cried.”
“My husband saw me staring at them. My heart skipped a beat. I’m not a size 4 anymore.”
“Laxatives started out so innocently, but quickly took over my life. ‘You’re not allowed outside. Any change in temperature and you’ll collapse and die.’ I started starving myself at 6. I could no longer move or talk. My lips were going purple. A light bulb went off. If I wanted to see change, I needed to be the one to make the change.”
“I couldn’t move my toes. I couldn’t move anything without excruciating pain through my entire leg. I was screaming, freaked out at the sight of it. ‘Haven’t I been through enough?’ I was DONE.”
“Charles confessed that for years, he felt attracted to men and he thought getting married to me would make him normal. ‘It’s part of me, but I want you to stay.’ He said that he would try to ‘fix it,’ and that he loved me. I received a message from a Facebook friend. ‘Have you heard what happened to Charles?’ He was found in the woods.”
“We sat down to watch another episode of Scooby-Doo. My daughter laughed as Scooby and Shaggy devoured a pile of hamburgers. ‘They ate too much!’ she giggled. Then she got serious. I felt tears tickling my eyes. Christy and Tammy are two of my friends. This is the curse that has been placed on me, on so many of us.”
