“‘Would you be willing to take in a little boy who was just born? He needs a family.’ I called the social worker back. ‘YES!’ Two days later, I met the second love of my life. A tiny, beautiful boy with the most gorgeous blue eyes I’d ever seen. The moment I laid eyes on him, my heart knew. He was my son, my missing puzzle piece.”
‘Writing letters to prospective birth mothers, I began to feel nauseous. ‘Katie, you’re PREGNANT!’ I felt the blood drain from my face.’: Couple adopt homeless boy from foster care, ‘He stole our hearts, then he took our last name’
‘A first-time mom, I didn’t know what to do. An old woman spoke out, ‘Oh honey, give him to me!’: Woman recalls stranger’s kindness, ‘Be someone’s silver lining’
“It was our first excursion. I tried to hush him, rock him, to no avail. I was close to tears. ‘Calm your nervous hands!’ In the changing rooms of Target, I learned my first lesson in parenting. ”
‘The first time I heard ‘rainbow baby,’ I was pissed. This storm doesn’t end.’: Mom details acceptance of term ‘rainbow baby’
“I thought it was one more way to say, ‘I know your baby died, but look, you get a NEW one!’ I could not handle anything that conveyed a replacement. This storm doesn’t end, there can’t be a rainbow.”
‘Mom! You have gray hair!’ I’d pluck them. I believed my best days had passed and felt rooted in shame.’: Woman goes on self-love journey, ‘My beauty is more than my hair’
“People said my 22-year-old daughter and I looked like sisters, and I thought I was giving that up. I decided I was grateful to be the age I was because aging is not a privilege everyone gets.”
‘You’re still holding on.’ We hadn’t let go of our twins. I started having vivid dreams of a baby boy.’: Couple adopt after loss, ‘Our babies are truly watching over us’
“The doctor looked worried. ‘I can’t find a heartbeat.’ I asked, ‘Both of them?’ It had been over 3 years and yet, we still had not let go. Until we got a call about a mom who wanted to meet us.”
‘I wanted to give them a message in Heaven.’ I unfolded the paper and read the note through a cloud of tears.’: Surviving triplet writes message to deceased siblings
“I was shamed for talking about my children who died. I was told to concentrate on the living child I have, not the two no longer physically in my arms. My 7-year-old sat next to me as I wiped away tears. I asked her about that special note, handwritten with so much love.”
‘We have a 2-year-old with significant abuse. We found man-made cages where they believe he was kept.’ I wanted to love on this poor boy, and make him feel safe.’: Foster mom says ‘with difficulty comes unimaginable beauty’
“Completely out of the blue, my husband asked, ‘What do you think about being a foster family?’ I wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember.”
‘Jack asked to wear his sister’s pants. He had his eye on them since they appeared. We both paused.’: Mom worries about son’s self expression, ‘Will they chalk it up to us, his two mom’s?’
“I mentioned his choice to my wife. Jack loves all things that sparkle. I wondered what his teachers and other adults might think. We paused immediately.”
‘How could a mom let this happen?’ She clung to the social worker with snot on her face. She couldn’t look at me.’: Foster mother pens open letter to bio mom, ‘I’m cheering for you always’
“They imagine your home being a toxic environment. They imagine your children wanting nothing to do with you. The reality is, for the first 24 hours, we mostly talked about how much she loves you.”
‘I feel like I’m betraying my mom.’ We drowned the first year. I stepmom-ed so hard, it almost broke me.’: Woman describes becoming a blended family, ‘My job is just to love them’
“I needed to take a step back. I had been trying so hard to help my stepchildren go through the healing process, I jumped into the mom role way too quickly. It wasn’t my job to fill the void.”
‘Maybe she’s not a bad friend. Maybe she really did miss your text. Her plate is completely full, and she’s coping the best way she knows how.’: Woman urges ‘love each other through the tough seasons’
“Friendship sometimes means loving each other through the tough seasons, and the rainy weather, and all the ups and downs.”
‘Do they know you have a wife?’ She said, ‘H*ll no. She knows I have kids, though.’: Wife accidentally outs spouse, worries for the judgment to come, ‘I hope one day it won’t matter who we love’
“I outed her without realizing I did it. She has a long list of clients who she has worked hard to impress. And then I lied to her about it.”
‘We caught each other’s eye on the way to addiction recovery. Two hopeless addicts, from completely different sides of the world.’: Couple beat addiction together, ‘There is always hope’
“It’s strange how love works.”
‘To my baby, you are the brightest spot of this difficult year. You are not cursed, you are not bad luck.’: Mom says newborn is ‘the beauty amidst the chaos’
“Whenever I feel overwhelmed by everything in this ‘unprecedented’ year, I hold you. And for a moment, I’m lost in the wonder which is you. You are not responsible for any of the difficulties of 2020, and you are not tied to them.”
I Invited The Mom Of My Child’s Bully Out For Coffee
“Sometimes we ask for the things we get in life. Sometimes we don’t. But all the time, we don’t know what other people are going through unless we listen.”
‘Is he your son?’ I nodded and waited for the disbelief. He just smiled. ‘I could tell. You look like best friends.’: Woman documents foster care journey, ‘Family runs deeper than blood’
“I remember the night he came home. I barely knew a handful of words. He had been told not to call me mom because I was not blood-related. It was not easy, but we grew together.”
‘I’ve had my accounts hacked. I’ve had my words twisted and changed to reflect me as a horrible person. I feel stronger.’: Woman who was hacked says ‘never give up’
“A boyfriend of years left me for another girl. I grabbed my phone and I wrote while my baby gnawed on my nipples.”
‘I will never forget the look on my parent’s faces. ‘I wish I could take this pain away from you.’ All I wanted was my baby.’: Mom recalls shock of infant’s stroke and seizures, ‘He is still perfect and he is all mine’
“I just wanted some chocolate milk. Upon returning from the cafeteria I see a man I do not recognize standing over my son. What’s wrong? Who is this guy? Why is he here? He was a respiratory therapist. Ian had had his first seizure. He had quit breathing.”
‘You MUST have your camera on to receive credit.’ I asked to turn it off to breastfeed my daughter.’: Student shamed for needing to breastfeed, ‘This is a child, not a phone’
“His response was, ‘You shouldn’t be doing inappropriate things during class. Do that on your own time.’ I was hurt and humiliated.”
‘We don’t punish our children. No more punitive punishment, no more shame, no more control.’: Couple urges parents to try connected parenting, ‘We’ve experienced more trust with our children’
“Isn’t a part of our parenting toolbox, but it used to be.”
‘Why me? What did I do to deserve it? ‘Even with all these questions, I want you to know I forgive you.’: Man pens powerful open letter to bullies, ‘You still have the power to change’
“Dear Bullies, I want you to know what you did to me was and never will be okay.”
‘You have 5 years to live.’ It was the first time I ever saw my husband cry.’: Mother diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer advocates for research, encourages ‘camaraderie and healing’
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34. I was upset, but I wasn’t surprised. I thought it was completely normal, as I had never been to a breast health clinic before.”
‘At some point, the laughter stops. Then comes the heartaches, the lows. Find someone who will see your ugly, and sit in the silence with you.’: Woman shares ‘ultimate relationship test’
“Sometimes I don’t need ‘cheering up.’ When the curtain closes and the house is empty, I need someone who will stick around through the ugly, and sit in silence with me.”
‘On the plane ride home from my summer vacation in Mexico, my face went numb. ‘Maybe it’s just the high elevation?’ Soon, I couldn’t feel the right side of my body.’: Young single mom diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis graduates college
“The doctor told me, ‘There is no cure. You will have this for the rest of your life.’ Then, I noticed I was 3 weeks late for my period. I’d just been diagnosed with an incurable disease and now I was pregnant all at the age of 20?! My baby’s father said, ‘I want to live the life of an average 21-year-old, just not with you in it.’ My life changed in the blink of an eye.”
‘My biology teacher said, ‘You’re lying. There’s no way you’d be alive without a pancreas.’ I held back tears, mortified. She accused me of my disease not being real.’: Diabetic woman details journey, ‘Our stories need to be heard’
“She tried to embarrass me in front of the class. ‘You’re wrong. I know what was done to my body.’ The room grew quiet as I sat there in shock. She accused me of my disease not being real. I knew right then and there I needed to make a change.”