“I wanted to see what the US had to offer. Spending time with the family. Making new memories. Laughing. Eating. Drinking. Having fun. Thanks to COVID-19, that may be the new way to travel for many.”
‘Every day is an adventure. We explore, parasail, and eat… a lot!’: Family says ‘I can’t wait to pull out the map again’
‘I was at the supermarket buying cake mix when I suddenly heard a loud crack. ‘This may sound strange, but I think my leg just broke.’: Young woman says ‘life is beautifully fragile’ after near-death accident
“I stumbled forward. A man stopped his shopping. I looked him dead in the eye. ‘This may sound strange now, but I think my leg just broke.’ People started gathering around me. Instead of taking my finals, I broke up with my boyfriend, began to lose my friends, and went from doctor to doctor. No one could explain what was wrong with me.”
‘I thought he had a cold. His eyes were watery. That Sunday when I got home, he was sicker than ever. It was time, we both knew.’: Woman adopts injured cat after losing childhood pet, ‘I learned how to open my heart’
“Ginger’s decline was quick but painful. I had to go away the weekend before he died, and I didn’t feel right about it. I convinced myself it was okay to go. He would bounce back like he always did. I was wrong. My cat of 17 years died on Valentine’s Day a few short months after I officially adopted him.”
‘I walked right into CVS with my mouth completely uncovered. I forgot to pull the cotton over my nose!’: Woman urges ‘be gentle, there is no right or wrong response’ during pandemic
“Panic and discomfort took over. ‘What are people thinking of me? OMG, are they going to kick me out? Arrest me?’ This new normal doesn’t feel normal at all.”
‘Someone put in an offer on our home in the middle of this pandemic. Our mortgage couldn’t be put on hold. We scrambled to live in a 6-feet wide trailer.’: Mom recounts 2020 regrets, ‘Everything happens for a reason’
“I had just been laid off. Maybe I should have put up with the terrible job that I felt might have killed me, to take a temporary one that ended New Year’s Eve. Amidst all this I get an awful and mean message from someone with whom I thought I got along, and no reason behind it.”
‘I got the call from her sister: ‘Things are bad. Come now if you want to say goodbye.’ I kissed the top of her head and walked toward the door, for the last time.’: Woman loses best friend to 15-year battle with anorexia, ‘She did not choose this’
“I rubbed lotion on her legs and changed her socks, tasks she could no longer do herself. I wanted so badly to find some way to at least make her more comfortable. Afterwards, I let the door close behind me. I was 29 and she 30, but I knew this was the last time I’d see my sweet best friend on this side of Heaven. She did not choose this.”
‘My shortness of breath got worse. Then came the fever and cough. I was told at the ER, ‘You have lung damage.’ I finally broke down and cried.’: Mom struggling to recover from COVID-19 pleads ‘please don’t underestimate how horrible this illness is’
“Out of nowhere I got VERY sick this afternoon, so my husband sent my butt to the ER. When you’re sick you want your mama, your sister, your brother, your dad, your friends. You want your support system. I finally broke down and cried.”
‘You shouldn’t have been drinking chocolate milk while doing homework!’ she said in a really harsh tone. I couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth.’: Mom urges ‘give kids a chance to explain’
“I felt so anxious I couldn’t bring myself to speak up and say the truth. It was an honest accident, and a 7-year-old couldn’t have predicted it. I still get frustrated just thinking about it.”
‘I was staring at my massive basket of pre-kids clothes I refuse to throw out. ‘My body size can change.’: Woman struggling with body positivity says ‘I don’t exist to fit clothes, they exist to fit me’
“My husband saw me staring at them. My heart skipped a beat. I’m not a size 4 anymore.”
‘Half my bowel was coming out of my body. The doctor said, ‘Hannah, I have no idea what to do with you anymore.’: Woman survives life-long battle with eating disorders after trauma, ‘There is always hope for change’
“Laxatives started out so innocently, but quickly took over my life. ‘You’re not allowed outside. Any change in temperature and you’ll collapse and die.’ I started starving myself at 6. I could no longer move or talk. My lips were going purple. A light bulb went off. If I wanted to see change, I needed to be the one to make the change.”
‘My scream was something you’d hear in a horror movie. My knee was dislocated, deformed.’: Woman overcomes years of severe knee issues, ‘I’m going to come out stronger than ever’
“I couldn’t move my toes. I couldn’t move anything without excruciating pain through my entire leg. I was screaming, freaked out at the sight of it. ‘Haven’t I been through enough?’ I was DONE.”
‘An alert popped up from a woman named Dani. When I confronted him, he dropped the bomb. Dani was a man.’: Woman feels guilt over ex-husband’s infidelity and suicide
“Charles confessed that for years, he felt attracted to men and he thought getting married to me would make him normal. ‘It’s part of me, but I want you to stay.’ He said that he would try to ‘fix it,’ and that he loved me. I received a message from a Facebook friend. ‘Have you heard what happened to Charles?’ He was found in the woods.”
‘My 5-year-old turned to me, suddenly serious. ‘You shouldn’t eat too much, Mom. Or you get fat like Christy and Tammy.’ I felt tears tickling my eyes.’: Mom urges ‘all bodies are valid’
“We sat down to watch another episode of Scooby-Doo. My daughter laughed as Scooby and Shaggy devoured a pile of hamburgers. ‘They ate too much!’ she giggled. Then she got serious. I felt tears tickling my eyes. Christy and Tammy are two of my friends. This is the curse that has been placed on me, on so many of us.”
‘She told me her breasts were sore and her period was late. ‘But I can’t get pregnant. I think there’s something else going on.’: Woman urges ‘if your friend has a miscarriage, don’t pretend it didn’t happen’
“I encouraged her to take a home pregnancy test. She did, and texted me later that it was negative. Imagine her surprise a couple of weeks later when she was seven weeks pregnant! Then the bleeding started, and never really stopped. There was no headstone, no cards, no calls, no casseroles.”
‘I watched as my partner was coerced into thinking that just because it’s Mom or Dad, they can say whatever they want, whenever they feel like it.’: Woman says ‘never forget that people need space’ after watching parental emotional abuse
“What if the beautiful woman we call Mom is secretly our greatest enemy? It taught me a valuable lesson, which I wish I learned way sooner. Yes, the situation was rough.”
‘He warned us, ‘There is a good possibility of rain.’ He pushed us to move everything indoors. We pushed back. I may have been the bride, but I definitely didn’t look like one.’: Woman says ‘I got the better end of it’ after ruined wedding
“With a guest list of only 75 people, little did I know that this picture would be one of the only pictures where I would look like the bride I dreamed to be.”
‘You called me over and over. I yelled at you. ‘What do you want?!’ Your little eyes looked up at me and said, ‘Sorry mommy.’: Mom says ‘we both deserve kindness at our most difficult time’ after snapping at son
“You hugged my legs so tightly. ‘I just wanted to say goodnight, because I’m tired.’ I forgot who you were. A little boy. But you’ve taught me a lesson today.”
You Are Meant To Forge Your Own Path In This Life, Not Someone Else’s
“You have the entire world at your finger tips, but that world is whatever you decide to make it. We cannot apologize for the things we want when and if they do not fall in line with the expectations the world has set for us.”
‘I want you to be open to taking a placement… this week.’ My heart jolted. THREE babies under 18 months old.’: Woman celebrates foster baby’s reunification with bio mom, ‘This isn’t goodbye’
“Her biological mom was a ready to fight to get her baby back home. ‘Your daughter is safe and there is hope for you.’ Penelope’s mom wrote a note back to me. ‘This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you later. You will see Penelope again. We’re family now.’ I read it and bawled my eyes out.”
‘Today social media attacked autism. It mocked, insulted, and made fun of people like my boy.’: Mom to son with autism responds to ‘ugly’ TikTok challenge
“My boy is only 4 years old and his battles are just beginning. The bullying hasn’t come to him. Yet. I want to believe his battles will be small, just like he is now. But today I let the ugly in the world get the better of me.”
‘My daughters rushed across the hall. ‘Mommy, Bates is spitting up blood. You need to come.’ One of his arteries had opened in his throat.’: Mom urges ‘don’t take your children for granted’
“My son, Bates, was only 7 years old. He started coughing up blood uncontrollably – over and over. It wouldn’t stop. I remember the horrific scene of him leaning over the sink. Earlier that day, I’d been frustrated with him for not remembering to put something away. In this moment, I realized how trivial it seemed.”
‘I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal so I can pretend this never happened.’ I felt a pang in my chest.’: Woman urges ‘don’t give up on the safety of those around you’
“They proceeded to talk about planning a ‘social distance’ birthday party. By that, they meant they were going to cap it off at 25 guests. There was no talk of masks or staying 6 feet apart. In fact, they stressed that it is ‘probably okay’ since the pandemic would be ending soon anyway.”
‘I ran through the door screaming, ‘Joe!’ My heart sunk. My girl was telling me goodbye, I just didn’t know it.’: Baby passes due to Miller Dieker syndrome, ‘It’s not her death that changed me, but her very existence’
“The hardest thing was breaking our son’s heart. After shedding tears, he proudly wore his ‘Big Brother’ shirt the next day. He told me, ‘Even if sissy looks funny, I’m going to love her just the same. And if anyone makes fun of her, I’ll tell them she is who she is and we love her.’”
‘Turn on the lights. What’s wrong with my baby?’ He thrashed in my arms and went limp. Our perfect boy was unconscious.’: Baby boy saves 3 lives after passing from aneurysm, ‘There is beauty to be found in the ashes’
“Finn threw up in my arms before the paramedics arrived, but I never put him down. A social worker and chaplain ushered us into a small waiting room and told us, ‘This occuring was a 1 in 100 million chance.’ Something in me knew this was the end. I could feel my heart ripping from my chest. We were not giving up on our boy.”
‘I saw with my own two eyes, gay little boys almost beaten to death. I was young and accepted the church’s truth as my own.’: Man raised homophobic says ‘God taught me to love everyone, and I will do just that’
“I was taught that only women and men were meant to be in holy matrimony, and same sex marriage is a sin. I was raised to be homophobic, but I will raise my kids to love everyone. If I’m going to inspire change, I have to start with myself.”