“I tried so hard to have it all. I thought I could raise my boys, be a great wife, have a clean home, be a productive employee, exercise 5 days a week, get enough sleep, drink water, and maintain a flawless manicure. But I was wrong. I couldn’t do it all. At least not all at once.”
“‘Is it really that bad out there?’ t’s not a population we think of to feel ‘sorry’ for. 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have worried about our incarcerated population during this time. In fact, I would’ve assumed it was for the best. Everything changed when I took the time to reach out and get to know someone different than me.”
“I couldn’t wear the cute sundresses like my girlfriends. I couldn’t wear sexy lingerie or bikinis…they just sagged. Yeah, I said it…sagged. I made a decision that I wanted to get a boob job. I wanted ‘pretty’ boobies, whatever that meant.”
“Let’s be real, some people live for the drama, gossip, and to whine and complain. Choose to continue living. I may not have control over a lot of what’s going on in the world, but I do have control over what’s going on in MY world.”
“We’re separated by a glass wall — those who can see the suffering but don’t know what to do with it are on one side. Grief is on the other side. Take a sledgehammer to that glass wall. Find the people who are scared. Find the friends who are depressed, the person overwrought with terrible grief. Show them they are seen and they are worthy.”
“There were three nurses for my daughter 24 hours a day. When the time came for us to turn off the machine, the nurses braided her hair and put a blue bow in it. Never once did they act like we were bothering them. They watched us come in, crying over her, knowing these would be the last moments we would have with our baby girl.”
“I remember the distress I felt. ‘Why is my hard work not paying off?’ I just wanted to give up and hide from the world. I thought I wasn’t worthy of love. I mean, who could possibly love such an ugly face? At my lowest point, I met a boy. He made me realize I was so much more.”
“I don’t like the idea of him stepping into harm’s way, but I also can’t help but think of those without a ‘pass’ or a steady income at such an uncertain time. These are our neighbors, our playdate friends, our hair stylists, and servers at our favorite restaurants. Let’s remember to check on them, too.”
“Corona is exposing us. Exposing our weak sides, our dark sides. It’s peeling back our layers and tearing down our walls. It’s calling into question, ‘What is the church without a building? What is my worth without an income? How do we love despite risk?'”
“This was us. We didn’t get to grieve together. We couldn’t even hug and tell each other it would be okay or that we would survive this. A father couldn’t look at his baby one last time, and a mother had to get the worst news about their baby…alone.”
