“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.”
‘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
‘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.”
‘She was hit by a tractor. She didn’t feel anything.’ I started crying hysterically. She was my soulmate, how was I supposed to move on?’: Woman with autism finds ‘special and strong bonds’ in cats
“The farmer didn’t notice. His daughter had found her body an hour later and put her in our driveway because she knew she was my cat. It was my worst nightmare coming true. I started screaming NOOO and crying hysterically.”
‘Do you remember your dad?’ She responded, ‘Which one?’ Our family dynamic changed completely.’: Widow shares ‘beautiful and complicated’ journey after loss
“It wasn’t just about our marriage. Our children gained a dad and siblings overnight. Blended. Forever.”
A Letter To Working Dads
“You come home from an 8-hour day job to start your second shift as Chief Tickle Monster. You do the dishes when mom is at her wit’s end, without even asking.”
‘As I was in the bathroom I heard a rustling noise. I figured it was a mouse. As I lifted my eyes to scan, mid-wipe, my eyes met another pair of eyes. IT WASN’T A MOUSE.’: Woman hilariously recounts embarrassing bathroom mishap
“‘HELLO! I’m in here.’ I think he knew I was ‘in’ there. I just don’t think his brain could process what he was seeing. He saw a bodacious woman, full-frontal from the waist down, wiping…her…backside.”
She Gave Up On Being Adopted, Now She’s My Beautiful Daughter
“Sitting in a shelter, she envisioned aging out of the system. She had given up on the possibility of being adopted before even meeting us. Honestly, I think she had given up on the possibility of people really loving her for who she is. But the universe has showed me this beautiful, brown-eyed girl was supposed to be with us.”
‘I asked my best friend why there were so many crying bloggers on the Internet. Was there nothing else to do while in pain then turn your camera to portrait mode? Now it makes sense to me.’: Woman shares opinion on emotional selfies
“Why someone would take a selfie during their most vulnerable moment and share it with the world. Was it attention-seeking? Now it makes sense to me.”
‘You could make serious money from this.’ It was tempting. Then I remembered the appreciation on her face. That was enough for me.’: Mom donates over 1000 ounces of breast milk
“A woman reached out to me. ‘My baby is sick. You might be able to help.’ I know I’d want someone to help me if I was in their shoes.”
‘I’m 46 and in menopause. But I’m NOT ready for this. I don’t WANT this.’: Woman shares struggle with menopause, ‘At least I’m still alive and functioning’
“I started having hot flashes. Then I had a thought. A memory. My intuition kicked in. When I was pregnant with my son, I had ongoing sinusitis. Saturday morning, I received a call from my doctor with the news.”
‘What are the chances of dying on your birthday?’ August 16th. One of the best and now worst days of my life.’: Woman pays tribute to late mother who passed on her birthday, ‘She was my best friend’
“We went from planning final details of our wedding, to planning a funeral. We went from receiving RSVP cards, to receiving sympathy cards.”
‘How the heck am I going to have TWO babies? How will I afford them? When will I sleep? What will I do?’: Twin mom reminds us ‘you can, and you will’
“You will stretch a scientific f*ckton as one baby creates a prison cell out of your rib cage, while the other sticks its head into the birth canal and calls it a day. Or a month. Or nine. Our bodies are so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for.”
‘The love of my life lived right around the corner. ‘You’re such a loving couple.’ Not long after, he came out to me.’: Woman documents infertility journey with transgender soulmate
“Not long after, he came out to me. We tried to open every door possible to have our family. ‘Why me? What could I have done differently?’ We were at a crossroads.”
My Kids Aren’t Spoiled, They’re Loved
“People would always say, ‘If you go to your baby every time they cry, you’re spoiling them.’ Yet every time they cried, all I could think was, ‘If I don’t soothe them, who will?’”
‘Parenting Autism’ is tears, sleepless nights, and trips to the ER. But it is also high-fiving in the kitchen, heart-melting, and witnessing magic in every day moments.’: Woman shares reality of being a mother to twins with autism
“Parenting Autism is buying screen protectors for televisions, knowing at any given moment, something could be projected at your TV, and saying, ‘No, we don’t throw things at the TV,’ means game over, with shattered cracks and black fuzzy projection in your future.”
‘Enough. Let’s take a break.’ Having kids wasn’t just a silly dream. I KNEW this was it.’: Woman details infertility and embryo adoption journey, ‘She’s a gift’
“The night before, we had snow. We never have snow that early. It felt like a reminder all things are possible. ‘We have a match!’ Everything was falling into place.”
‘We hid under the guise of ‘best friends.’ Suspicious, my roommates logged onto my Facebook. They exposed our romantic messages to mutual friends and strangers.’: LGBTQ+ woman details brave ‘coming out’ journey
“That night, while on our big red couch in our cozy den, my mom turned to me and asked, ‘Kaila, are you gay?’ I spilled my heart out. She didn’t interrupt. She didn’t insert her feelings or her worries. She simply listened, and assured me how much she loves me.”
‘Mom, you can’t see my letter!’ This sparked my curiosity. What in the world would he ask Santa to bring me?: Mom reads son’s heartwarming letter to Santa, ‘They’re depending on us’
“My house seemed unusually quiet. If you are a parent, you know this can be a dangerous sign. ‘Mom, leave!’ They covered their paper. Now I was really curious!”
‘My legs froze. I collapsed. ‘It could be worse.’ Embarrassed, I was carried away in front of an entire field of people.’: Fibromyalgia warrior raises awareness for invisible illness
“I was handed a sheet with a human diagram instructing me to ‘shade the painful areas.’ I shaded the whole body.”
‘We tested positive for coronavirus. We let our guard down. I failed.’: Family gets COVID-19, ‘Stay safe and vigilant’
“We put the kids in daycare for two days a week so they could play with their friends, learn from their teachers, and participate in the holiday school activities. Two weeks after they started daycare, our whole family is sick.”
‘It’s SO. MANY. PEOPLE. FIGHTING. Everyone is judging, berating, and one-upping each other. It’s TOO much.’: Woman urges ‘let the negative out and the positive in’
“It’s the over-sharers vs. the internalizers. It’s men vs. women. It’s those who believe anxiety and depression need pills vs. the ones who think those guys and gals should just ‘be happy.'”
‘I no longer wipe tiny butts or blow on soup. There’s no one to nurse to sleep at bedtime. I used to wish for these days, but now my heart aches.’: Mom urges ‘they’ll always need you mama, just in different ways’
“They’ll always need you, Mama. Always. Just in different ways.”