“Scott went in for his surgery and FaceTimed me when he got out. He said in his hoarse post-surgery voice, ‘I’m so sorry I am not there to help you and your mom right now. A few hours later, I got a text from his brother. ‘Mel, I’m so sorry. Scott didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.’ Huh? I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
Country superstar Miranda Lambert broke down in tears when she saw a soldier’s sign in the crowd.
His reaction is priceless.
“My husband and I decided it was time to get rid of some NASCAR memorabilia. Within 10 minutes of putting it up I got a message that someone was interested, but they wanted to send a check. I guess it was a good thing I said, ‘Yes,’ because the guy sent me a check for over $2,000. My item was just 50 bucks! The name on the package was not the same as the check.”
“I slumped down into that grey, padded chair and I thought to myself, ‘These people think we have it all together. We walk in here with our Sunday best on, hair done and a fake smile across our faces, and they have NO CLUE the gates of hell that have unleashed on us the last two days.”
“You smell like sweat and tears for days at a time. You don’t get breaks. You lock yourself in the bathroom and scream into a towel while crying because you need a second to breathe, all while a child is banging on the door to get in. You forget what it means or feels like to be an individual. I was one of those people who judged SAHM’s. But I get it now. We are lonely and alone.”
“I can still remember her sitting in the white vinyl rocker next to the refrigerator, a wrinkled moisturizer-soaked hand on her forehead, shoulders slumped, trying to figure out how to raise a teenager long after she’d intended to raise a teenager. She sacrificed a lot by taking in her troubled, slightly drug addicted, disgruntled, often absent from class, foul mouthed, rebellious grandson.”
Kylee thinks she’s participating in a family photo shoot. In reality, she’s about to receive her dream come true, courtesy of her mother’s boyfriend.
“I see your posts, momma. ‘I never get to sleep in, but my man always does.’ ‘I’m so tired of never having help.’ ‘I wish I could be as carefree as my husband.’ The right man will step up and do whatever needs to be done to help out his family. You shouldn’t have to beg.”
“We sat down that night with our oldest two. We explained we were so truly lucky because instead of a baby to bring home, we were given the rarest of gifts: an angel baby. They sobbed, ‘But we want him to come home.’ We purchased his plot where he would soon be laid to rest. At 32 weeks, we met with the funeral director – all as he kicked playfully inside my belly.”
