“I was told time and time again, ‘Nobody will love you as much as I do and you’ll never find someone else who loves you as much as I do.’ And I believed him.”
‘I was ‘too flirty’ when I wanted to be with friends, ‘too uncool’ when I wanted my family. All I had left was him.’: Woman escapes abusive relationship, ‘Now, I know the importance of loving yourself first’
‘He was hunched over in our guest bathroom, holding a gun. My birth control failed. I found out I was pregnant days before.’: Woman survives traumatic divorce, ‘You always have a voice, use it’
“I panicked, my body uncontrollably shaking. Standing in our apartment hallway, soaked in sweat, I tried to stay calm and rationalize with him. The moment I had always dreamed of in my nightmares was finally here. He was going to kill me and our unborn baby.”
‘You are a masterpiece, beautiful girl. You can’t compete with an edited image of another girl. You’re already valuable.’: Mom says ‘your worth cannot be measured from the outside’
“When I delivered you in the hospital and saw your face for the very the first time, I was instantly in love with all of you. God gave you the exact color of eyes and hair on your head, and gifts and talents for a reason. Your worth and value can’t be measured from the outside.”
‘I’ve turned my back for a moment and found my son in the dog crate. It’s a house of chaos.’: Mom of two babies survives quarantine, ‘We will never forget this gift of time’
“Trips have been canceled. Friends have gone un-seen and family has to stay away. The noise in our home consists of babies crying, dogs barking, and the occasional adult crying. Sometimes we let them cry so we can give each other a hug.”
‘I was a having a really crappy day.’ We finished our transaction. ‘I want you to know your awesome attitude really cheered me up.’: Mom surprised by act of kindness by local restaurant, ‘The world needs more people like her’
“A dude greeted me at the door. There’s some writing on my to go bag, but I don’t pay much attention to it. I thank her again, grab my food, and head out the door. When I get home, I realize it. I cried. It was enough to turn my whole day around.”
‘You can’t find the energy for that cool craft project someone sent you or to bake cookies with your kids, and it’s OKAY.’: Psychologist urges ‘do what energizes YOU’
“If you’re dedicating your energy to caring for your child’s needs instead of a craft project, academic task, or home-cooked meal, YOU. ARE. NAILING. IT.”
‘I let him know his lack of faith was a dealbreaker. ‘You will never find a man who will wait until marriage to have sex.’: Woman urges to singles ‘no amount of loneliness makes compromise worth it’
“Last night I FaceTimed with a guy I met on a dating app. I made it very clear on my profile I was looking for someone religious. ‘You’re looking for a needle in the haystack. You will never find a man to wait until marriage for sex. You’ll be single for years.’ My first reaction was heartbreak.”
‘She should be here to watch them grow up. I want the love of my life back.’: Widowed single dad creates new normal, ‘I’m different now and that’s OK’
“You are still the same person physically, with a couple of extra pounds stacked on, chowing down Doritos and binge drinking cheap wine on the couch while watching home movies and bawling for days on end. But inside, you are forever altered.”
‘I sit with one eye answering emails, the other on my son who stares at schoolwork like it’s a hate crime.’: Dad says ‘don’t feel bad, we’re all struggling’
“I continue to try and not get fired, which usually means I give up after 30 minutes and send them into the backyard with the hose, so I don’t end up dropping them off on church steps. Which really isn’t a possibility because churches are closed, but it’s the image I need to keep going.”
‘The Great Pause,’ I’ve heard it called. I’d been making emotional progress. Then Covid happened.’: Mom says ‘forget your 5-year plan’ after losing daughter to epilepsy
“It’s been six months since my daughter died.”
‘I hear, ‘Your virginity is a gift to your future spouse.’ Once you cross ‘the’ line, you can never have your purity back.’: Woman advocates for others to be ‘true to ourselves’
“Your lack of sexual experience and ignorance about what you like and want in the bedroom–Oooo, fun! ‘Because once you cross ‘the’ line, you can never have your purity back.'”
‘One minute I’m happy, savoring these little moments together. The next, I’m waiting for it all to end.’: Woman says ‘you don’t have to savor every moment, it’s OK to be hanging on by a thread’
“Three months ago, I had it all mapped out. Now, I cry over toilet paper. I’ve cried for my 3-year-old who misses his Mamo and Papa, or as my toddler begs me not to have another meeting. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster. And not a fun one either, more like the kind that makes you want to throw up.”
‘Last night we learned of the death of a toddler his age as we watched the news. Emergency rooms aren’t filled with kids like him.’: Mom of special needs child says ‘the least I can do is keep my family out of your care’
“I found myself grasping for perspective. There isn’t anything that will stop a parent of a special needs child for being there when their kids need them, not even COVID-19. The least I can do is work to keep my family out of your care.”
‘On the way into the house, he slipped and smashed his head onto the floor. ‘I cannot take this kid to the ER right now.’: Mom realizes ‘big feelings’ toddler is wrestling during quarantine
“My patience was pretty thin, and I snapped at him. What else did he want??? And then the tears kept coming. I took a longer look at that little pudgy boy in his pjs, crying over nothing. And I realized, more clearly than I have all week, that he’s not crying over nothing.”
‘She’s 12 years old and has her first job. Four days a week. I don’t know about you, but I know for sure I wasn’t doing this.’: Mom proud of 12-year-old for first job, ‘There is not a sliver of my younger self in her’
“It’s about way more than money. If this is any indication of what the future holds, I could not be more excited.”
‘This week I cried over potato chips. My husband asked what was wrong. As I said, ‘Nothing,’ I burst into tears. Big, wet, ugly, stupid, wracking sobs.’: Mom says ‘no matter how great or small our stress, we are all hurting’
“A little piece of me needed them. While my husband held me and let me sob out my disappointment over the lack of Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles, we both understood that it wasn’t really about the chips at all.”
‘Our 2-year-old went from no pee-pee accidents to 3 a day. Our 10-year-old started to baby talk and ask me for water when she’s totally capable.’: Mom of 7 reminds us ‘regression’ is normal
“Yet nearly every morning, my husband makes and brings me a cuppa.”
‘Whatever the day looks like, I’ll be there. This parent loves you bigger than any global pandemic.’: Mom urges ‘love on each other hard, even when the world is going bonkers’
“Maybe making you feel loved, safe, and secure has nothing to do with routine, or with schedules. Maybe, just maybe, it has everything to do with us.”
‘The surgeon said, ‘You’re fine. You’re just a hysterical housewife.’ A piece of metal oozed out of my wrist.’: Woman misdiagnosed and bullied by doctor, ‘It makes you question your own voice’
“My right arm had ballooned so much, it looked like my thigh. My doctor told me I had over-iced it. A small piece of metal oozed from the surgical opening. ‘How do I know you didn’t make it up?’ I was ashamed to say my doctor was bullying me.”
‘Quarantine is not a competition of who’s handling it better, or who has it worse.’: Woman urges ‘you are in an entirely different circumstance than anyone else’
“Because one day, you’re going on three walks—and the next you’re hiding outside in your parked car. One day, you can start a project or two, and the next you can be too tired to even function.”
‘No cell phone usage or speaking during the movie!’ ‘Security’ led them into the theater. The kids loved it!’: Parents create awesome home ‘movie theater’ during quarantine
“It got them doing lots of chores while learning to count money!”
‘Dear Class of 2020, we are rooting for you, praying for you, and cheering for you.’: Woman says ‘you remind us of where we’ve been, and give us hope for where we’re all going’
“We may not be your parents or grandparents or siblings or aunts or uncles. We are not the people who can tell stories about when you were born or say, ‘I remember when you were a baby, and now look at you!’ But we are rooting for you anyway.”
‘Please check on your people with a history of addiction. We’re not okay, and honestly, we don’t have the courage to tell you.’: Woman urges ‘we just need to know it’s going to be okay’
“We know how much our mistakes hurt you, but we need grace in these uncharted waters. This quarantine has been like gasoline to our old habits. We’re not okay.”
‘It was day 3 of a sinus headache. My toddler would not stop shrieking and my partner was unavailable. I wasn’t just irritable, I was angry.’: Mom says there’s no shame in being an ‘angry parent’
“I felt I did not deserve because I had done everything I was supposed to avoid getting sick and felt cheated. If my children did something that scared me, I would yell and shame them for it. I wasn’t just irritable, I was angry.”
‘Last night my 6-year-old asked me if the coronavirus was going to ruin 1st grade, too. My heart feels so heavy.’: Social worker explains how to help kids ‘process their losses’
“We explained to him that he was not going back to Kindergarten. He stared at us incredulously, mouth open wide. Then he dropped the toy he was holding to the floor. After a few long beats, he ran off. My heart feels really heavy today.”