“Our life has been a series of indescribable highs and unspeakable lows. We welcomed my baby half-sister in the world and into our home. The father we shared died and we gained custody. I was in the midst of a miscarriage. We were heartbroken. I don’t know if I’ve felt lower than I did the day we traveled 40 minutes to a food bank just so we could eat.”
“I’m not raising heartbreakers. I’m raising sons who care for the hearts of others AND who tune into the frequency of their own heart. Our boys need more options than the stock characters of Boring Nice Guy and Hot Heartbreaker. Masculinity can come from the heart.”
“My husband and I had an agreement. We would share chores, INCLUDING cleaning the bathroom. No matter how many times I lost it, wrote it on a chore list, cried, or slammed doors – it just never, ever got done unless I did it myself. I couldn’t understand, and he didn’t have a good answer. So, by God, I dug my proverbial heels in. If he wasn’t going to help me clean those bathrooms, then our-marriage-was-doomed.”
“I apologized and raced out of the store to get my bank card. In my rush, my daughter tripped and skinned her knee. She cried as I scooped her up. I tried to comfort her while drowning in shame. We discovered that the baggers had unloaded our entire cart. His response brought tears to my eyes. It had been an evening fraught with failure.”
“Pretty soon social media will be overflowing with hearts, flowers, and all sorts of mushy feelings. Bless us, we love a good commercialized holiday. But my heart is with the ones who are single, unsettled, and still searching. To the wife who sent her spouse to work today without a kiss, because there’s so much distance between them right now it’s insufferable.”
“No matter how many lunches I pack, boo-boos I kiss, or preschool forms I fill out, the world doesn’t read me as a wife and mother.”
“She comforted me while I fell apart. And then, it happened. What always happens when I let anyone see any emotion other than ‘ok’: I got irrationally mad at myself for crying in public. Losing my husband and becoming the soul provider for our daughter has sent me into a deep panic.”
“After graduation, I was excited to take on the world! That feeling quickly died. Every employer assumed I wasn’t qualified. I didn’t have a specific ‘look,’ or I didn’t fit the part. I realized I didn’t want to work someplace where I would be judged by the way I look, not by the work I contribute. Appearances matter, but they matter even more when you’re disabled. And the hardest part about being disabled isn’t being disabled. It’s fighting to be seen as an equal.”
“My son Robbie was adopted from the foster care system after years of severe abuse and neglect. I picked him up from school today and broke the news our dog was showing signs of kidney failure. His response was, ‘Can I hold her when she goes to heaven? I know how it feels not to be loved or cared for. I don’t want any animal of mine to ever feel that way.'”
“See a few toys on the living room floor? Leave them. Your toddler will ask for them as soon as you wake up. Screen time is toxic? HA! Jokes on you. Your littles don’t want leftovers? Well then, cereal it is! Stop. trying. to. be. supermom. To your children, you’re already perfect.”
