“Our babies! Were they gone? We drove the 3 hours to the IVF clinic. The doctor informed us, ‘One baby is still there, and next to the baby is a blood clot 4 times its size.’ I remember my eyes filling with tears. I began crying on my wife’s shoulder. ‘What you two are doing isn’t right.’ No one ever tells you how hard it will be to have kids when you’re gay.”
“He accused me, ‘Your boyfriend is in the RV parked outside, isn’t he? How dare you bring a man into our home, in front of my daughter.”
“When we got married, I had no idea how to relax my body. How to communicate without completely shutting down for days. I struggled to show emotion, to be vulnerable. It took 5 years of marriage for me to believe he wasn’t going to hit me when he got mad. The simple act of raising his arms triggered me and made me flinch.”
“Addiction is a room (and whole hospital waiting room) full of brothers, sisters, nieces, uncles and friends beating themselves up because they didn’t save you. It’s a doctor saying the words ‘legally brain dead.’ An empty chair at every family event. It’s a daughter, a son who have to figure this world out without their dad. This is a man who loved with everything he had. Drugs don’t love you. Your family and friends do.”
“The next day, after a well deserved rest, the family appeared to meet our baby girl. With them taking photos and taking turns holding ‘the potato,’ we really starting to notice her face. She was NOT happy with being evicted. I told my husband as he was holding Luna, ‘check out that face.’ She had his stupid mean mug face, but unlike him, she made it look good.”
“I have a good marriage, a good family, a nice home, and a stable career. I went to college and I’ve published books. But that’s the thing with depression. It doesn’t care how good your life is. I think that’s one of the hardest things to explain.”
“I was dropping my son off at daycare. When we arrived, there was another little boy who’d just been dropped off by his mom. He couldn’t have been more than 3 years old. And he was wailing. This child was genuinely distressed. He wanted his mom very, very badly. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more in tune with another person’s emotion.”
“This year started off rough. I had heart surgery and later got thyroid cancer. I was strong for everyone around me. However, I wasn’t strong for myself. When no one was around, I cried, a lot. Do you know what really helped me? My two best friends. They were strong for me. That’s the thing with true friendships. Not the ‘get the most likes on Instagram’ friendships – the real, raw friendships. We care about is each other. It’s that simple.”
“I’m really good at gift buying. But my husband sucks at it. For years it used to make me SO mad he couldn’t get it together to surprise me with a thoughtful gift. I’d get so offended that all the hints I dropped never manifested into an idea. Then I learned of the five love languages, and it finally made sense. Now, I do the socially unacceptable thing. ‘That’s really conceited,’ I’m told. Well, you have to pick your battles in marriage, and this is one I fought for WAY too long.”
“Spouses, ask how she’s feeling. Her entire body just stretched and morphed to share it with another human being. Do you know how absolutely bonkers a woman’s hormones are during pregnancy and after delivery? Becoming a mom for the 1st, 2nd, or even 5th time changes you, forever. Clap for new moms. Your words matter. We need them to be positive.”
