“In light of this, our family is giving you blanket permission to do this however the hell you want for the next two months. I don’t care if you teach my kids one more thing this semester.”
‘Your kid wants to sit on your lap while you teach long division? Great. Need to stress eat half a bag of Cheetos in pajamas while trying to explain Experimental Error? Go for it.’: Mom says to teachers ‘we’re on your team’
‘Your grandma has spiked a fever.’ ‘The nursing home was hit with COVID-19. My fierce, stubborn 98-year-old Italian little woman of a Nana fell victim.’: Woman mourns grandma lost to Covid-19, ‘Today Nana left us and my heart is broken’
“Telling my Nana my life wasn’t going to be what she expected, as I’d met the person I intended to marry and it was not a ‘he,’ was the most difficult moment of my life. I watched her heart break in front of me, fully aware I was the cause. Years later, at my wedding, she looked at me and said, ‘The LGBTQ community is the happiest group of people I’ve ever been part of.’ Today, Nana left us. My heart is broken.”
‘My OB came back in with a flu swab. I couldn’t hold our beautiful, new daughter. Tears immediately filled my eyes.’: Mom recalls childbirth as Influenza patient pre-pandemic, ‘Hindsight is 20/20’
“10 minutes after childbirth, I began shaking. My temperature skyrocketed. It was recommended we remove our precious, new baby from my care, and into theirs. I handed her over. We weren’t allowed visitors. My husband could only visit me with protective gear. But hindsight is 20/20.”
‘It started with what I thought were seasonal allergies. 2 days later, the chest pain began.’: 35-year-old mom positive with COVID-19 after ‘following all the rules’
“I woke up completely drenched in sweat. I called the COVID-19 hotline. 5 minutes later, a very condescending man came on. I was told I sounded ‘fine’ and was likely just ‘exaggerating’ the symptoms due to anxiety. I had a seizure. Blood had started pouring out of my mouth. I wouldn’t realize just how much until later.”
‘I wanted it. It was my fault.’ I didn’t report the crime because no one would believe a schizophrenic.’: Woman with schizophrenia overcomes abuse, finds soulmate, ‘Everyone deserves love and beauty in their lives’
“It started with neglect and evolved into mental, emotional, and physical abuse. I endured this silently, for I thought it was what I was destined for. All the while, I was hearing voices and believing I was seeing dead people. My husband went along with my delusions. I truly thought I was a vampire and he encouraged it.”
‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to put you on birth control.’ The IVF clinic shut down. All I ever wanted was to be pregnant.’: Woman battles infertility during pandemic after IVF clinic closes, ‘I still have hope’
“My body left me with 3 cysts. ‘It’s not fair,’ I cried to my husband. It’s been a year since we lost our miracle baby, and now our rainbow baby has been pushed further and further away. I am unsure of when my next treatment will be. Through tears of uncertainty, I decided to stop my birth control. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
‘They found a lump. I’m sure it’s nothing.’ It wasn’t ‘nothing.’ It was the beginning of the end.’: Covid nurse honors mother after she passes from breast cancer, ‘I became a nurse because of my mama’
“I became a nurse because of my mama. ‘We’re staying home for people like Nana because these germs would make her very, very sick.’ I played a tiny role in some of the very best and very worst days of people’s lives, while I quietly and achingly watched my own mama fight and fight.”
‘I told her I was feeling really low and just didn’t have the energy to even go to the store. The depression of being inside set in.’: Woman says friendships are about people who say ‘I’m here for you’ and prove it
“A short time later, she came to my house with a shopping bag. From 6 feet away, she placed a bag of groceries and masks on the ground. I was an emotional wreck.”
‘The dreaded texts started coming in from my friends and their husbands about that Zoom call. My anxiety was through the roof.’: Woman says ‘don’t allow yourself to sink, rely on the people who love you’
“I cried over chicken today. Then the dreaded texts started coming. We planned on times when we could all talk. I tried really hard to come up with excuses to keep me off the call. I wanted nothing to do with it. The call lasted 4 freaking hours!”
‘Hold our hands. Let us grieve. Of course we know it could be worse.’: Woman says ‘it’s okay for college graduates to be sad’
“We know that some of you missed your graduation because you were being shipped off to Vietnam. We know it because you continue to tell us. And we thank you for your sacrifice, but it’s not a contest.”