“I was sound asleep when I suddenly hear a knock at my bedroom door. My heart jumps. The pounding in my chest gets louder. Both children are standing at the door, both upset. ‘It’s 2:30 in the morning,’ I firmly reminded them. I am trying to figure out how I can self-isolate in my closet, but they keep finding me.”
‘Both on the verge of tears one announces, ‘He smacked me.’ I check for blood, bruising. ‘She was using too much toilet paper!’: Mom shares hilarious ‘chaos’ of quarantine with multiple kids
‘Today I got called a boring mother, a crappy mother, a wonderful mother and that I was so much fun. All in a matter of hours.’: Mom urges ‘the last thing you need right now is guilt’
“If they spend their days on iPads while you gather your thoughts, it’s okay. If you wanna sit in your pajamas, eat brownies, and watch Frozen 2 on repeat all day, that’s OKAY. If the house looks like a bomb site, who gives a crap. Really. No one is going to visit you anyway.”
‘One more week of trying to put a smile on through tears. One more week of hearing you say, ‘Mommy, I can’t wait to kiss you again. How much longer will this be?’: Nurse mom says ‘cherish this time for those of us who can’t right now’
“One week of air hugs through Facetime. One more week ahead of wondering if this will be the week we’ll run out of PPE completely. One more week ahead of uncertainty, of masking up and walking into the unknown. We will come out on the other side.”
‘Make sure your kids have a schedule. But let them be kids. Homeschool. You don’t need to homeschool. Teach them life lessons instead. And common core.’: Woman candidly shares reality of mixed messages during pandemic
“Don’t let your kids outside. Don’t leave them home if you go out. Give them fresh air. Keep them home. Is that a cough? Is the tightness in your chest anxiety or the virus? Just breathe. But don’t be irresponsible. That’s not sickness that’s your fear. It’s okay, we’re all stressed. Treat yourself to some junk food. Not too much. You need to keep your immune system up.”
‘They tell me, ‘Go back to your country.’ Many of my patients ask to switch nurses. I’m not Chinese, and I was born and raised in America.’: Nurse vows to continue to fight ‘despite obstacles’
“I head into the shower and visciously scrub my skin until my eczema flares up to match the raw, peeling skin behind my ears from wearing masks all day. I sleep alone, without my special someone. I park my car in crevices to power nap on a makeshift foam mattress in the back of my trunk after a 12-hour shift to head right into another 8-hour shift. I will continue to fight, no matter the obstacles.”
‘I have to send my 3-and-a-half-year-old child away. I won’t get to visit her. I won’t get to hug her. I won’t get to tuck her in at night.’: Nurse mom says ‘I feel punished for having to be the ‘good guy‘
“This is the face of someone who feels punished for trying to be the ‘good guy.’ My job as an ER nurse is just that, my job. This is my current situation.”
‘I lost a baby, too,’ Why is she saying that? I’m not losing my baby, am I? Surely they can save her!’: Woman experiences her baby being born still, ‘I have learned grief is not linear’
“The emotional pain was like something I have never experienced. I remember the midwife placing my daughter on me, I hadn’t opened my eyes and was terrified. She quickly took her off and I remember just crying. All I wanted to do was swap places with my baby. I didn’t understand how this could have happened.”
‘We fully believed I was pregnant. I didn’t understand why this was happening. My whole world felt like it was crashing down’: Woman struggles with infertility, ‘Our journey is messy and painful, but also beautiful’
“We haven’t been publicly ‘open’ about who has the ‘problem.’ We don’t feel the need to share it everywhere because it doesn’t matter and quite frankly, it’s no one’s business. At this point, it changed to the reality we may not ever have kids, period.”
‘I know you think he’s going to stop. One day, sweet girl, there won’t be a next time. One day, it will be absolutely too late.’: Abuse survivor urges others to get out, ‘You’re a warrior. I know you can save yourself’
“One day he’ll have you pinned on the floor with all of his weight, smashing your face into the carpet. I know you don’t want to believe it happened at all. I know you wish, with all your heart, things were different. I know you feel worthless. But I also know you can do it. Stop trying to figure it out, stop trying to make a plan and just run.”
‘She took her life. The mantra became, ‘Be Kind.’ She couldn’t have predicted how it would resonate.:’ Mom in UK describes helpers amidst the Coronavirus, ‘let’s kill the terror with kindness’
“I have never met them. I do not know their faces, surnames, ages, job titles or nationalities, but I know their numbers, and if I ever need ‘any help with groceries over the coming weeks,’ they are close. I’ve read that note, several times over, tears welling in my eyes as I remember I am not alone.”
‘My daughter was separated from her only true friend. Her teacher. A person who said, ‘Come to me as you are.’: Mom of autistic child thanks teachers for act of kindness ‘you are our heroes’
“Yesterday the teachers and administrators from my daughter’s school decided to put on a car parade. As her teacher drove away, she shouted out the window, ‘I love you, Campbell!’ They all knew her. Not just her homeroom or specials teachers, but every single one. As a special needs parent, I can’t explain how much that kind of acceptance means.”
‘He can never leave the house.’ We have not seen our family or friends in over a year.’: Mom of severely immunocompromised son says ‘I am tired of headlines saying only the vulnerable will die’
“His doctors were hopeful we could take him out of the house for the first time EVER this summer. We could introduce him to his family members and friends. We could let him play on a playground, like a normal toddler. However, now our future is unknown again as the pandemic has erupted.”
‘When I was 12, something called coronavirus ripped through our country. It was so scary.’ She takes a moment to shake her head at the memory of it all.’: Mom imagines grandchildren’s questions about the quarantine, ‘It was the happiest time of my life’
“‘People were dying. There weren’t enough ventilators, or masks. Big cities were hit very, very hard,’ she says. She hesitates for a second, thinking back to this faraway time. ‘I think it changed us. It changed our country. It made us better.’”
‘Babe, there’s something not right with Nevaeh.’ I felt defeated. Why my daughter?’: Mom brings awareness to autism after daughter’s diagnosis, ‘Being different is beautiful and inspiring’
“She isolated herself often. Instead of interacting or playing with toys, she would sit in the corner next to the bookshelf, pretending to read. At first, I turned the other way and denied there was something wrong. I couldn’t mentally prepare myself for something I didn’t want. Then the script flipped. I realized she’s not of any less value.”
‘She was struggling to feed her kids. ‘You can get another job, but you can’t get a life back. Quit whining and be thankful you’re not part of the death toll.’: Woman says ‘it’s okay to mourn and struggle with change’
“My heart broke. When did we decide it was okay to pit each other’s struggles against each other? When did we decide it was okay to compare each other’s grief?”
‘Today you cried in the hospital parking garage. Your face broke when you looked at the last picture you took of your sleeping child.’: Woman says you are more than ‘just a nurse’
“To the nurse that pushed sedation and paralytics into the veins of your favorite physician. To the provider sleeping in a tent, hotel, camper, basement, or garage in an effort to minimize your family’s exposure. My prayer is you never wake up in the night sweating or gasping for breath. May you stay the course as one of the ‘mild’ cases.”
‘But, I wasted food,’ she sobbed as she knelt down to pick up the mess.’: Mom urges for grace during quarantine, ‘They’re carrying a heavier load than they can balance’
“I knew those tears were more than just spilled Cheerios.”
‘Our nature walk resulted in my son picking up dog poop thinking it was a rock. Now they’re bowling with empty beer cans in the basement.’: Mom pens hilarious appreciation letter for teachers during quarantine
“How do you do it? I mean, truly? Our ‘classroom’ for the last 2 weeks has been one big dumpster fire after another. I bow down to you. Add the fancy laptop bag to your fall school supply list. Add that pretty dress you saw as an ad on your Instagram feed. I’m all for you dressing like a QUEEN next school year.”
‘I feel hideous and weak. I want it to end.’ Chemo was killing me.’: Stage 3 breast cancer survivor encourages others during pandemic, ‘You can find beauty, laughter, and joy’
“I don’t know how else to say it. I never once imagined my biggest life lessons would come while being bald and sick as my breast was slowly consumed by cancer. There will be life before and after the pandemic, and I believe the after will be sweeter.”
‘We cloth diapered so we can stomach cloth toilet paper if it comes down to it. We live the camper life, full time. COMMUNICATION IS VITAL.’: Mom who lives in camper says ‘it’s OKAY to need space right now’
“We packed up the essentials and moved 600 miles away from our home into a 100-square-foot camper. It’s safe to say we know a little something about small space confinement. This could be your most connected year, if you allow it to be.”
‘Will anyone love me after I transition?’ I knew all along who I was, I just didn’t know where I belonged in the world.’: Queer, non-binary, trans person comes to terms with identity, urges ‘you’re never alone’
“During the first appointment to assess my eligibility for hormones…I lied. A lot. I told elaborate tales about how I had ‘always dreamed of being a man.’ I worried I was a poor representation of the trans community. No one would suggest a woman who had a double mastectomy is no longer a woman because she lacks breasts.”
‘Every night, we create these letters for hospice patients and nursing home residents who aren’t allowed visitors right now.’: Family share acts of kindness for ‘lonely’ elderly during pandemic
“There are so many people out there unable to have their loved ones visit them at all. Knowing how scared and lonely this time may be for them just breaks my heart.”
‘I remember saying the very words, ‘Not her.’ That was my breaking point. Hurt me, but not my sister. I threatened to tell my mommy what they did.’: After surviving abuse, cancer woman says ‘sometimes just having someone to talk to is enough’
“I tried to hide it from my parents but their child had changed and they knew something had happened. I walked onto the bridge with tears in my eyes. This is how I would do it. She watched me, and through the grace of God, decided she should call the police. This woman, I truly believe, was an angel.”
‘Today my dad walked over 4 miles to my house so he could see baby Elliana through the window…again.’: New dad urges ‘stay home for the grandparents who want to hold their new grandchild more than anything’
“While my wife was pregnant, I don’t think an hour went by where my dad didn’t brag about becoming a grandpa soon. Now, his granddaughter is finally here and the only thing he can hold are pictures. It breaks my heart. If this grandpa can resist coming inside and loving on his first grandchild, I know the rest of us can do this too.”
‘His frail fingers shook as he grasped the bananas. I felt a gut punch for this little old man bagging my groceries. Why was he even working?!’: Woman says ‘stay home, there are people who could die because they can’t’
“I quickly paid and pushed my cart to my car, my face feeling flush with shame. This precious man, for reasons our society is too selfish to address, must continue to go to work. If you find yourself wondering if the errand is worth the risk, look at this picture.”