“When I was 15, I started drinking 2-4 drinks a night. At 21, I ate most of my meals at bars. Before I knew it, I peaked at over 200 pounds. But the more I got healthy and lost weight, the more it drove a wedge between me and my fiancé. ‘Don’t get too skinny,’ he said. He wouldn’t talk to me and it was really frustrating. I felt like he was discrediting my work. My relationship was built on negativity.”
“I was walking down the sidewalk when I suddenly felt like my body was struck by lightning. My legs grew heavier with each step. All I could think was, ‘Something is very wrong.’ Nothing like this had ever happened before. The scariest part is fearing every day that I’ve passed it onto my daughter.”
“My Memaw had a brain aneurysm that left her unable to live alone when I was 15, followed quickly by dementia. She didn’t always know who we were. Some days she talked. Some days she didn’t. Some days she had it together. And some day, well, some days were rough.”
“I came home from school. No one was home. I went up to my room, and opened my window. ‘If I jump, who would even miss me?’ All of a sudden, I was overcome with emotions. ‘My beautiful daughter, do not do this.'”
“God only knows where my mother was, we didn’t even share a zip code, much less a zipped dress. I hopped in my car, which you can see was chalk full of clothes, because to be honest, I lived out of it half the time. Didn’t I look so happy?”
“My parents sacrificed so much for their kids. They moved to the USA with $0. Even if I gave them the whole world, it would never be enough to repay them. I hope to continue making them proud.”
“Teaching was tenable when I was a 22-year-old single renter. It no longer works when I have a family and a mortgage. I’m not looking to have a crazy affluent lifestyle over here. But the fact is, I can only afford to live in the neighborhood where I teach because I’m married.”
“When I met my husband, the most stable man I’d ever encountered, I immediately said ‘I do.’ But we hadn’t even made it to year 7 of marriage yet, and I was itchy. Here’s why. Prior to this dream vacation, I woke up to my nightmare.”
“I begged my loving and supportive parents to please take me home. I begged and pleaded with my dad and promised I’d be good. But there were 11 charges, and a few were felonies. Bail was set at a million dollars.”
“Two months into it, things came to a screeching halt. Mark betrayed me. He sent a beautiful bouquet of red roses. He owned up, apologized, and, truth be told, I was already in love with him. How could I resist? This was the beginning of a life of walking on eggshells.”
