“At 10:30 in the morning my husband called me from my school’s parking lot. He was there to pick me up. I collapsed in front of my students and wept. Two 14-year-old girls picked me up off the floor and walked me out of my school. He was loved. He was wanted. He was needed. I needed him.”
“I smiled on cue. I showed up to play dates. I dressed my kids well. But I kept all the other stuff hidden. I opened a private Instagram account and used it as a journal, as a means to post the not-so-pretty. I felt so icky about my half-truth life. I was shaking as I hit the button to make it public.”
“They were out of all other options. Phoenix was bleeding into his lungs, and they couldn’t figure out a way to stop it. The nurse was calling other hospitals to figure out an accurate dose of medical cocaine to administer. What?? This can’t be happening!”
“We would sit there in our room, phones in our hands. We ended our time together with a simple, ‘goodnight.’ Intimacy no longer existed. When people ask us how we first met, we always tell them, ‘it’s a funny story.’ And really, in a way, it kind of is.”
“I watched her face in absolute horror. SHE WAS NOT BREATHING. ‘No, no, no, no! Amelia, breathe!’ She wasn’t just blue, she was lifeless. ‘Start CPR, I’m calling 911,’ I told my husband as I ran to get to my phone.”
“I remember my father giving me this advice about picking a wife: ‘Stop by her house unexpected. See how it looks in there. You can tell a lot about a woman by how she keeps her house.’”
“Two days before my boyfriend’s birthday, something told me to check. I had not one single symptom. I got excited! This felt different. I made him sit down and open all of his presents early. He stared at it. Stared at me. And smiled. He was scared, I could see it.”
“A tribe of other women who refuse to get jealous. Who refuse to compare. Who refuse to belittle, or go low. Who refuse to gossip, or leave out, or hurt just to watch her crumble under the pressure.”
“I’ll never forget the phone call from our doctor. She said, ‘I’m so sorry Victoria, your donor really is like you, even her eggs are like yours.'”
“He made the decision to uproot his life and move 1,200 miles to become our full-time ‘manny.’ Sadly, today, I wouldn’t DARE leave her in his care.”
