“My first thought was, ‘They have the wrong boy.’ My son loves school! Frustrated, I yelled, grounded him. Then, the next morning, I heard it. Sobs coming from the shower. ‘Mom, I’m not feeling okay.’ He told me he felt extremely depressed. That it was so bad he contemplated killing himself and had skipped class to find a quiet space to cry alone and breathe. Instantly, I felt a pang in my heart.”
“No one mentions that you disappear into your own walls. A part of the furniture. Like an old armchair that’s jumped on all day and the last thing you want to do is talk to someone or be touched. We have to be grateful, so we shut our mouths. I’m in silence listening to others say, ‘I never felt like that, I loved it.’ Sinking deeper into our guilt.”
“‘The room looks good!,’ Eric peeked in. I didn’t smile. I didn’t say thank you. Instead, I was short with him. ‘Well, it’s done.’ We were hurting. ‘Come over here and give me a kiss,’ he smiled. I heard him say goodbye to the girls in the living room. He yelled, ‘love you’ and then the garage door slammed shut. Later, I heard my phone. It was a football coach’s number – not Eric’s. I pulled both of our blonde-headed girls to me. I wasn’t sure the words would escape me.”
“I’ve always been a one-man kind of girl. I was 22 and had just ended a 5-year relationship. Jak burst my bubble immediately. I was scared of these new feelings, but it was the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced. This is where it gets interesting. My whole life, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be with a woman. I never told anyone. We decided to experiment together. This turned out to be a life changing decision for us both.”
“This type of behavior should not be accepted.”
“I allowed myself to be a momentary creeper. I just pulled back, parked my cart and watched all the sweet mamas. I wanted to say what all the elderly ladies used to say when they saw me in Target at 8 a.m. – ‘Enjoy it. It goes fast.’ But I resisted.”
“He whispered, ‘I sure am gonna miss you baby.’ They were the first words we’d spoken in hours. I almost didn’t notice the tear roll down my cheek, had it not landed on my lips. He pulled me closer and we sat in our embrace. Silent. Both aware everything was about to change.”
“I got a call from my daughter’s teacher. She said there had been a pretty catastrophic incident while cleaning up. I listened intently, but none of this was a surprise to me. I got off the phone and was so mad. That little girl would never ask her to play again; likely she’d run home and tell her parents about the bully in class.”
“I was STRONGLY encouraged to wait for kids. My incision was paper thin. 3 months later, I was pregnant. My little baby was growing alongside fibroids the size of ORANGES. To make matters worse, he was sunny-side up. My life was in danger. In my foggy head, I heard, ‘Amber, we can’t get the bleeding to stop. Do you want your tubes tied?’ I woke up covered in blood.”
“‘Oh God no. Please no…’ I whispered that night, my legs numb from sitting motionless. I stared straight into the eyes of the young doctor, trying to digest the news I’d just heard. Brain cancer. Earlier that evening, within 5 seconds of pulling into the driveway, I received a frantic call from my husband. ‘No, no, no,’ the only coherent thought I was able to form.”
