“I just freaking love you. Honestly, I didn’t really ‘get it’ until my 30’s; until the dramas of life started to be really critical. Lifetime level heartbreaks, pregnancies, cancers, divorces, careers, health, death. The real stuff. The real real.”
‘I am grateful for girlfriends. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize you are my heroes.’: Woman thanks her ‘tribe’ of best friends who help deal with the ‘real stuff’
‘Ugh, you can have my kids. Just relax and it’ll happen.’ My journey ended with a hysterectomy.’: Woman diagnosed with Endometriosis after years of infertility, finally finds peace in a ‘beautiful, unexpectedly child-free life’
“The doctor actually laughed and told me I was ‘just dehydrated.’ One asked, ‘Have you been sexually abused?’ He thought the pain was in my head. I decided it was time to walk away from my dream of being a mother. ‘It’s okay to put yourself and your health first. It’s okay to stop.’ She lovingly placed her hands on my shoulders, looked directly into my eyes and said, ‘You’re going to be okay.'”
‘Can we put a nightlight in our bedroom?’ I asked my husband at 26. I felt like a burden.’: Woman suffers severe anxiety, mental illness convinces her ‘someone is standing in a dark corner of our room’
“It’s not normal to be 26 years old and be terrified to stay in your house alone. My husband was out of state for work. I worried about it for 2 months. I kept telling myself over and over, ‘You are going to be fine.’ I was fine until 9:30 p.m. when all of a sudden, it hit me. If someone broke in, I couldn’t hear it. I snapped into panic. I’ve asked my husband countless times, ‘Do you still love me? Why do you want to be with me?’”
‘Is he saying he’s going to hurt himself or others? Our waitlist is over a year out.’ My jaw hit the floor. One YEAR?!’: Mom fed up with lacking healthcare coverage for son dealing with grief trauma, ‘The system is so flawed’
“I eagerly dialed the number. ‘My son lost both of his parents when he was 2. He’s grieving. I need guidance, and would appreciate an evaluation.’ I want to start helping him NOW instead of LATER. ‘Okay ma’am, our waitlist is over a year out.’ I was incredibly defeated. I had no idea this would be so hard to find help for my child. No clue at all. I have this inner voice that won’t quiet down. ‘Get help, Molly!’”
I Got Sober For A Man, Stayed Sober For My Baby, Now I Stay Sober For Me
“That hole I lived with for so long has been filled with and recovery, and no one can take that away from me.”
‘My boyfriend didn’t sign up for a sick girl. ‘I’d rather die than have a poop bag attached to me.’: Woman with ulcerative colitis learns to ‘love herself’ despite invisible illness
“How can an athletic, smart, strong young woman who has the entire world ahead of her have an incurable sickness? Even with a doctor’s note, my administration accused me of trying to get out of my contractual duties. ‘It’s ridiculous Jess keeps calling off. Does she expect us to cover her classes all of the time?’”
‘There’s an issue with her hand.’ I was scared. It was inverted backwards, and she only had 3 fingers.’: Mom ‘shocked’ after daughter born with limb difference, ‘I was determined to protect her every way I could’
“The moment I gave birth to her, I noticed the doctor and nurses exchanged glances. They wrapped her up before handing her to me. ‘We want to get her cleaned up first.’ I didn’t understand. I quickly opened her up and checked. I was shocked. I told my husband, ‘God created her like that.’ The doctors were accusing me I ‘must’ve taken drugs’ while I was pregnant. ‘Her deformity is the reaction the drugs had on the baby,’ they said. Babies ‘like these’ come with ‘a lot of baggage.’ She is different, not less.”
‘I ‘killed’ my son, long before he went missing 5 years ago.’: Mother encourages shift in ‘black parenting,’ claims ‘we can change the world with love’
“Growing up, my son loved me more than life, but feared me worse than death. I screamed in his face, threatened him for disturbing me, and dared him to cry when he was hurting. Sometimes, I denied him hugs and loving arms. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Our sons suffer an invisible death when their mother is the first one to call him ‘bad.'”
‘Is he a drug baby?’ I heard the whispers. ‘You’re making a huge mistake.’: Southern woman adopts African American child in ‘little town known for racial divides,’ aims to break stigmas
“On a holiday weekend, we received a call. ‘A baby boy is in the hospital and needs a home.’ I was scared to say yes. Just 3 hours later, a car pulled in our driveway with a 6-pound, 3-day old, baby boy. Time stood still. She handed him to me with two Walmart bags of random items, some paperwork and wished us well. We had no idea what the future would hold. Everything about this decision looked crazy to most people – even us.”
‘Not all women want to have kids, or buy a house and ‘settle down.’: Woman ditches job, starts solo travel movement
“I learned about their stories and was surprised to find that even though every woman had a different story, there existed a common thread that strung them together: Women who solo travel don’t want to live the way others expect them to live.”