“I walked out of the office and something just clicked. I didn’t want to live my life this way anymore. The racing heart, nausea, paralyzing fear, uncontrollable shaking. I knew in my heart there had to be some other option.”
‘My psychiatrist said, ‘Technically, you’re on the highest dose I can legally prescribe you…’ At 8, I’d had my first panic attack. I didn’t want to live life this way anymore.’: Young woman details journey with anxiety
‘I can’t foster. I’m a single mom!’ I dropped my daughter off at school and the phone rang. It was just the beginning.’: Mom becomes foster parent, ‘My singleness was a gift’
“Never in a million years did I think I’d be taking on foster care. ’Would you welcome in a 12-year-old girl?’ She was just 3 months older than my daughter.”
‘I asked Audonte what he wanted for his birthday. ‘Just some cupcakes.’ Every day, he’s at the park by himself.’: Mom shares act of kindness for wandering boy at park, ‘It takes a village’
“Audonte is at the park every single day and never has anyone with him. He’s become like a 4th son to me.”
‘They aren’t mine to keep.’ She can’t leave her husband. They’re just as scared as I am.’: Foster mom fights for reunification, ‘I want families to be whole again’
“‘I couldn’t give them back.’ It can happen to anyone. She can’t make it without you.”
‘Did I make you feel invisible, like you didn’t matter?’ I felt torn in two. Her needs surpassed yours, and I couldn’t change it.’: Autism mom pens touching letter to son, ‘You are my life raft’
“You went on to say it’s okay, and it’s not her fault, and it’s not my fault. It’s just what is. I cry as I type this.”
‘I heard him opening the safe. I asked what he was doing. I thought he fell. That’s when I saw the smoke and his lifeless body next to me.’: Woman loses husband to suicide, ‘Have courage and talk about the hard things’
“At 6 a.m., he got up to get a glass of water. I do not know what he actually drank, but when he came back into the bedroom, I heard him opening the safe. The next thing I knew, I heard a loud noise.”
‘They found a tumor in my eye.’ We were both 24 and just starting out our lives. So, I married him. Our wedding was the last time he saw me from both eyes.’: Young mom loses husband to Uveal Melanoma, ‘We survived by living in the moment’
“‘Ian is dying. There is cancer everywhere! Did no one tell you this?!’ We made it to Hawaii. In the back of my mind, I knew he wouldn’t be coming back. I had not only lost my husband, my soulmate, and the father of my two children, but I also lost our beautiful future together.”
‘Are you living an alternative lifestyle?’ I was PHYSICALLY thrown out of my house at 2 a.m. It took losing everything to gain the life I have now.’: Woman disfellowshipped after coming out, ‘Love won when we said our vows’
“In high school, I lied to myself about Dana. My freshman year in college, I lied to myself about my friend Ashley. My parents reported me. When the committee asked me about my ‘alternative lifestyle,’ I finally told the truth.”
‘You don’t measure up to other women.’ He detailed all my flaws. It cost me thousands.’: Divorcee details journey to self-worth, ‘Healing is beautiful’
“It struck me how just an afternoon of hearing about all of my flaws and how those flaws—my flaws—were used in the choice of another person.”
‘She’ll never have a boyfriend!’ My dad rushed out of the room. It looked like I’d been punched in the cheek.’: Woman with Port Wine Stain overcomes bullying, ‘Be kind to yourself’
“A classmate pointed at my birthmark and laughed, ‘Is that dried spaghetti sauce all over your face?’ My face was blotchy and far from perfect. I was mortified.”
‘I just ate a really big breakfast.’ It was a lie. I was starving, but I convinced myself I had it under control.’: Woman recovers from anorexia, ‘I love the person I am’
“I had a problem. But I had no idea how to ask for help. I sobbed when my mom placed dinner in front of me. ‘We’re going to the doctor.’ I was terrified, but I wasn’t so alone anymore.”
‘Please, get me my husband!’ I could only hold her tiny hand through a hole in a plastic box.’: NICU baby survives the odds, ‘She’s tiny but so strong’
‘They watched helplessly as I was wheeled away. ‘Is she breathing?’ She was so tiny but SO strong.”
‘They gave me a shot in each leg. ‘What if I lose her?’ It seemed like seconds before the nurses returned with news.’: Couple welcomes rainbow baby after ectopic pregnancy, ‘I regained my belief in miracles’
“I was sent to surgery to remove my fallopian tube, and an estimated 30% of my fertility. I was terrified my dreams of a family were lost in the operating room.”
‘He can get on my last nerve but he’s also the sweetest. I put him through hell and back, yet here we are.’: Woman writes touching story about fiancé
“He had to fight for me because I was not ready to settle. My fiancé was born with no pigmentation in his hair.”
‘If he hadn’t reached out, he would’ve been dead. This is something everyone needs to hear.’: Loved one shares reality of what’s ‘brewing’ beneath the surface of COVID-19
“COVID-19 almost killed my friend, but not in the way you’re thinking. His addiction was not something anyone saw coming.”
‘He flailed around like a salted earthworm. ‘SIT DOWN. GO TO TIME OUT.’ I felt nothing but resentment. He widened his eyes and said, ‘Mommy, I’m scared.’: Mom shares moment of lost temper, ‘I’m terrified of screwing things up’
“His sweet little cherub curls and fat tears streaming down his face, and all I could think was WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME??? My son was scared. Of me.”
‘I restarted my profile and started swiping. He was nice, funny, and so easy to talk to. ‘Okay, I guess I can try dating you.’: Divorcee talks online dating in the pandemic, ‘Coincidence? Fate? Who knows?’
“My stomach dropped… I was just getting used to talking to someone, now I have to meet them! By then Covid was in full swing, but he had already planned coffee and a walk in the park. He said, ‘How about we meet at 10:00?’ I remember asking him, ‘Oh, like a day date?’ This was getting serious – I had to put on my big girl pants, fast.”
‘Are all these kids yours?’ Truthfully, I’m not the best stepmom. Sometimes I feel like an intruder in their home.’: Mom describes ‘rocky waters’ of blending families, ‘Love conquers all’
“We’ve dealt with two baby mamas, a pregnant teenager, and infertility. People think we’re crazy. ’Step’ means we don’t have to love each other but we still do.”
‘Man up. Men don’t cry.’ Now that I’m a mom, those phrases sound like nails on a chalkboard to me.’: Boy mom says it’s our duty to ‘raise boys who know real men cry’
“I will raise boys who know they always have a safe space to let it out. I will raise boys who know tears make them strong, not weak.”
‘You dig pregnancy tests out of the trash, just to make sure. You plan cute announcements, only for your period to show. You cry tears behind closed doors.’: Woman battling infertility says ‘I see you, I am you’
“Even after months or years of praying and trying, it’s still not your month. You dread family events because you don’t want to face the question, ‘When are you having a baby?’ No matter how many times you request that question not come up. You wonder what you are doing wrong if it’s so easy for everyone else.”
‘She fell into my arms, tears falling. ‘My boy was non-verbal. He let himself out the front door.’ She tightly clutched his blanket, and described a boy just like my own.’: Special needs mom talks anxiety, missing children statistics
“My husband’s voice cracked. ‘They found him. He’s gone.’ As we sat there in the warm night lit by citronella torches, his mother, who I’d never met, hugged me and fell into my arms. ‘It happened fast. Minutes…maybe seconds. No noise…just silently slipped away.’ I held my breath. As an autism parent, I knew the statistics.”
‘When we saw the ultrasound, I almost fainted. ‘We need to hire some staff!’ It was an enormous gift.’: Gay dads welcome triplets through surrogacy, ‘We’re surrounded by love’
“We’d basically given up hope. We never asked them. They asked US. Two women wanted to help us create the family we had always wanted.”
‘We can have one more. Only ONE.’ That’s all I needed to hear. We had 8 kids within the next month.’: Couple adopts four kids from foster care, ‘My heart was changed’
“My son yelled from the back of our 12 passenger van, ‘So when does he move in?’ I was shocked. ‘Mom, he doesn’t have a family!’ It took one visit to decide.”
‘My sweet little innocent girl looked right at me and said, ‘But mom, you are Santa.’ I could have lied. Instead, I confessed the truth.’: Mom teaches daughter ‘true magic of Christmas’
“I wanted to tell her that even though the writing on her presents looks like mine, it isn’t. I wanted to tell her that when her elf caught fire last year when he was sitting on a hot light bulb, that she didn’t smell melting plastic. She is still so little, and I wanted to savor that magic.”
‘We found cysts on her brain.’ I felt her strength, her love. I did everything possible to give her a chance.’: Mom births miracle baby with Edward’s Syndrome, ‘She’s a warrior’
“I started bleeding and my only thought was, ‘I’m losing my baby.’ But there was a heartbeat. And it was a strong one. She wanted to live.”