“He had been rushed to the ER. I was confused. Dylan was as fit as a fiddle. Something about seeing Dylan morph into a completely different character sent fear and doubt through my body. The agony of waiting was almost unbearable. What if the transplant doesn’t work?”
“There are people out there who are claiming this is a hoax, that it’s some made up BS. She’s had a mama who has worked in the ER her whole life, but she knows something is wrong. She’s pulled me aside twice now, asking me to stay home. ‘Mama, you have asthma and have a higher risk.’ She’s 7 years old. Let that sink in.”
“You wake up with your own issues, and still get sh*t done. Anxiety doesn’t make you broken. If anything, it makes you resilient.”
“I wanted to be ‘normal’ like my friends. I started neglecting my health. As you can imagine, it doesn’t take too long to forget about the nasty finger pricks and injections. I had to skip some because of ‘what people would think.’”
“Everyone kept texting and telling us they love us, they are thinking of us, and they know how hard Easter is going to be. If it were up to me, I would have just skipped Easter entirely. Our picture-perfect family really isn’t picture-perfect anymore.”
“Maybe you can do without the U.S Postal Service in your own little world. However, the country as a whole could not. When I put my uniform on each morning, I’m proud to wear it, and I’m proud of my job. You see, your mail carrier…they’re the front-line.”
“My boyfriend always said things like, ‘You just lack willpower,’ in a playful, mocking tone; as if what I dealt with wasn’t all that serious. He didn’t believe my inability to overcome my depression. He tore me down to the point where I felt my existence was something I wanted to end.”
“If your childhood was anything like mine, you grew up with your parents saying you were going to ‘be something’ one day. I was so hung up on this idea of what ‘success’ was. A 9-5 Monday through Friday gig, making more than $70,000 a year. I didn’t care if I was happy, as long as the job matched those criteria.”
“‘Mom, I’ve been thinking about something but please don’t say ‘no’ until I’ve said everything I have to say.’ I ended the conversation with, ‘I need to talk to dad about it.’ ‘But Daddy said yes!’ Apparently, guinea pigs are exempt from this unwritten rule.”
“The last text she sent me was, ‘I’m happy your husband died. You deserve it.’ At 3 a.m. in the morning, out of nowhere. Somehow, it hasn’t registered in her head that we are not ‘friends.’ She has been taking advantage of the pandemic to make me feel especially guilty.”
