“All I knew was I was scared of ‘love.’ I didn’t want it. In fact, I wanted to run from it like it was the plague. I wish I could go back and hold myself like I held my siblings. I wish I could tell little Jas that real love was coming. An angel on earth. The most adorable, bi-racial boy with the biggest dimples and largest afro I had ever seen.”
“I won’t be taking these things with me anymore, and I hope you’ll do the same.”
“The medical examiner handed me the two most symbolic pieces left of his life—his wedding band and St. Christopher’s Medal around his neck, marred and tangled in char and plastic.”
“I want our family to be able to communicate without any barriers.”
“He said take my bin out. If he had said put my bin out, it would have been just a normal day in Mackay.”
“We lost all passion and attraction towards each other. The text he sent, ‘I think I messed up again,’ was a turning point for us. One where we no longer settle.”
“Until one day I realized, ‘Like hell I did nothing!’ I am raising two AMAZING human beings. I kept this house together from the moment we bought it. And I looked death in the face and said, ‘Not today. Maybe someday, but NOT TODAY.'”
“A mere 21 days before our wedding, my husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma.”
“I was six years old the first time it happened. He asked if I wanted to play a game called ‘Truth or Dare.’ By the time I was in middle school, I understood drinking. Suddenly, nothing seemed awful anymore.”
“You aren’t my only anymore, but you were my first. You taught me what being a mama meant.”
