“Gag me with a spoon, right? I wasn’t sure it was true. I mean, who would leave this fine specimen of the male species? He asked for my number and we agreed to meet for coffee. It was snowing, pretty hard. This guy offered to drive over an hour in it to see me. This was a big. freaking. deal.”
‘I was completely caught off guard when the boy next door from my childhood friend-requested me on Facebook. ‘Sometimes a simple hello can open a door. Great smile.’: After divorce and bad luck in love, woman finds her ‘forever’
‘Recently, I walked into a room full of young men. I didn’t find any of them attractive. It hit me: I like girls.’: Teen comes out as lesbian to her family, ‘They love me no matter who or what I am’
“I totally cried. As my mom told them, I hid behind my tea mug (it was a pretty big mug) because I didn’t want them to see me crying. I thought I was strong enough to not. Of course, my dad then joined as well and stated, ‘Yeah, I’m straight, I like women.’ We all laughed as he looked at my mom.”
‘I remember calling the police so they wouldn’t blame me for abuse. I knew he was going to harm himself. I could no longer keep him safe.’: Mom of son with aggressive autism says ‘he’s perfect to me’
“I stood behind him, yelling to my husband to watch as I clapped repeatedly behind his head loudly. He didn’t even flinch. I said, ‘He’s deaf, right?’ When he was in elementary school, he was physically abused by a speech pathologist. I reached out to anyone and everyone for help, but I was left empty-handed for a very long time.”
‘The surgeon put a foreign object in my womb instead of tying my tubes. The hot, metal coils unraveled and poisoned me.’: Woman undergoes hysterectomy after faulty sterilization, ‘The procedure is now banned’
“A few months later, I could barely walk. My hips popped out of their socket every time I stood up. The pain was excruciating. I’d turn down social invitations and dates out of fear for my appearance. I had major brain fog and my memory was non-existent. The OBGYN assured, ‘This procedure is WAY better.’ Countless others said it topped the ‘older method.’ In hindsight, I should never have agreed to it.”
‘I grabbed his phone, punched in the numbers. My heart was pounding out of my chest. We’d just made love, and there she was.’: After affair woman says, ‘We don’t have the perfect marriage, but we do have a renewed one’
“There it was. Or should I say, there she was. Mystery solved. She helped me craft a letter. My husband was having an affair. He felt I had abandoned him when he needed me most. He was an easy mark for any woman. I would pray my husband would have a heart for me. My husband was becoming a new man.”
‘At 12, the psychiatrist gave an ultimatum. ‘If you don’t gain 0.2 pounds by Monday, I’m sticking a tube down your throat and admitting you to the psych ward.’: Anorexia survivor says ‘recovery is a choice I make every day’
“I cheated my way out, really believing the worst was over. That lasted 12 hours. My mom took me to the supermarket to buy a birthday cake for my friend. I stood in the cake aisle and started to panic. I couldn’t do it. I was so consumed by it, even looking at the cake felt like something I’d have to punish myself for. I left the story empty-handed and in tears. I didn’t think I’d live to see my 15th birthday.”
‘She is 4 years old. 5 weeks and 1 day. And she isn’t toilet trained.’: Mom says her daughter ‘will do it in her own time’
“Today when I was met with a disproving look, one of shock and full of judgement about her not wanting to toilet train. I confidently shook my head and I proudly said, ‘She will do it. In her own time.'”
‘This surgery is unlike the other 35. Do you understand we don’t know the effects?’ With a shaky hand, I signed my name on the black line.’: Woman with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome undergoes life-altering surgery
“‘I’m ‘chickening out. I can’t do it.’ My dad was holding the door open when I took ONE step and froze. Something shifted in my back like it never had. I had some ‘colorful language’ and said, ‘Let’s go.’ Tears in my eyes, I signed my name on the black line. 8 hours later, I woke up screaming. ‘I can’t do this! Ow! The pain! Ow! PUT ME IN A COMA! I CAN’T DO THIS!’ The meds weren’t working. My mom was rushed in.”
‘She is always with you.’ There I was, burying my daughter, picking out the perfect casket. ‘No, she’s not f#$King here, is she?’: Mom mourns loss of daughter to flu, ‘In 20 years I will still be thinking about my baby girl’
“When I walked in, she hugged me. I whispered in her ear, ‘Don’t f*@King ask how I’ve been, because I’ve been better. Now can we please do something about my gray hairs.’ The worst is always ‘time will heal.’ You think every day for the rest of my life I won’t think about her and it won’t break my heart all over again?’ It sends me into an internal rage.”
‘My mother’s brain was leaking for a whole year, undiagnosed. She was bedridden, and I was a cork bobbing in the ocean with no direction.’: Man details childhood memories of mother thanks to StoryWorth
“When my mom died, I was alone – I was like a cork bobbing in the ocean with no direction.”
‘I wiped away tears and quit ignoring the calls from CPS. 30 minutes after I told my 1st grade students goodbye, I had a 4-week-old baby placed in my arms.’: Mom says fostering journey is ‘nothing like I imagined’
“I forgot to send my kid to school with shoes….again. I cry the entire way home. I throw myself a pity party on what my life was supposed to look like. But then I get the little boy who has been handed a very hard life. The teen mom who has nowhere to turn, and the drug addicted mother who lives a life of regret. I will get too attached every single time. And that’s definitely a good thing.”
‘Our baby arrived before the ink dried on my high school diploma. I crumbled like a piece of paper with the news. We had so much on the line.’: Teen parents pursue career dreams, travel full-time
“The daydreams of twenty-something freedom felt gone. We were just another measured ‘teen mother’ statistic that pigeonholed our future. I was scared and unsure, but my husband never doubted. We didn’t just decide to rock the boat. We decided to sell the ‘boat’ and trade it for a set of wings, a huge dose of optimism, and faith in the unknown future.”
‘She may never pen a love letter. She may never gush in appreciation for her momma. But when I cry, she cries.’: Mom to daughter with autism says ‘the ability to recognize love without words is a gift’
“I’m not talking about romantic love. I’m not talking about the boo hoo’s of a bad break-up. I’m talking the pain of staring into the blank eyes of your child who you would die for, literally die, and never knowing if or what they feel in return.”
‘His face lit up. ‘There’s my friend, Max!’ You didn’t hear your son say that. But I did. I looked at my son. He was still crying.’: Mom to special needs son thanks woman in parking lot ‘for answering my prayers’
“As you both passed the side of my car, your son, still trying to catch up with your pace, made contact with mine. My son threw his cup and flung his head back in frustration. He couldn’t tell me what he needed; he is non-verbal. He didn’t know someone had noticed him, someone called him his friend.”
‘When you fire up a lighter and don’t think twice about it, I’m asking you to remember this face.’: Mom to son with severe asthma urges ‘check who’s around before lighting up’
“My 6-year-old’s pediatrician stared him straight in the eyes and ordered, ‘You stay away from cigarettes. Your lungs can’t handle it.’ There are some struggling who didn’t choose this fight. Let’s not forget them. The air you exhale is the same air we breathe.”
‘I remember telling my therapist trips with my husband felt a little lack luster. We went to a private bungalow over the Rivera and he dozed off.’: Woman says there is no rule book for relationships
“I told her it would have been more fun with a friend in tow. I thought she’d tell me to stop outsourcing my needs to other people and start spending more time with the man I married.”
‘All I could think was, ‘How can you miss a baby?’ Twins quickly turned to 3, then 4. I could not believe my eyes.’: Mom births miracle quadruplets after battling infertility, cancer
“My infertility journey began at 11. I’d just started my period and there I was, having life-saving surgery, my ovaries twisting in pain. ‘The growth on your bladder is cancerous and ready to spread.’ After years with my husband, it was time to call the IVF clinic. I did the usual bloodwork, only to be called soon after. ‘Can you come back in? It seems you’re already pregnant…’ Tears fell down my face. I could not believe my eyes.”
‘All I could muster at the party was, ‘Are you serious?’ over and over, as if my husband would use such heavy words to joke. ‘Yes, they found him in his room.’: Woman recalls complicated relationship with incarcerated father
“‘I have to get naked and bend over. They want to make sure I’m not sneaking anything in my butt cheeks.’ After a revolving door of drugs and women, and a lifetime of waiting for you to change, I gave up. It felt like a knife on your exposed flesh. I could see it in your eyes but that wasn’t enough to make me say ‘Dad.’ I’d be damned before I let you in again.”
‘The woman’s eyes instantly widened with amazement. ‘Your house must be chaotic, all those children!’ I’m a hot mess mom and I know it.’: Woman says she loves the ‘glorious chaos’ of mom life
“I didn’t contradict her. Some days, I really miss having a quiet meal with easily flowing adult conversation. Some nights, I fantasize about sleeping without interruption or a foot in my face. But this chaos that is my life brings me joy.”
‘2-year-olds aren’t terrible—they’re just learning how to be human.’: Child psychologist shares tips to manage toddlers’ complicated feelings
“We see kids this age as misbehaving, rude, or not listening. We see them losing it or throwing temper tantrums over nothing. But when looked at with fresh eyes, these misbehaviors can make sense, even to us.”
‘I’m a single dad. It’s so hard.’ He whispers, ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’ When I got to my car, the tears came flooding.’: Woman shares act of kindness for struggling single dad
“I watched as the man in front of me asked the cashier to put things to the side. Over and over again. He kept swiping his card. Declined. He was just buying the bare minimum. There was a girl and boy with him. I could see the embarrassment written all over their faces. Then suddenly, I started to open my mouth.”
‘Can I help you?’ I stopped at the door. ‘Actually, I wanted to offer MY help. Would you like me to watch your child while you catch up on work?’: Woman shares amazing act of kindness for struggling working mom, ‘A little love goes a long way’
“Tonight I walked into the tanning salon. The employee seemed very annoyed and not welcoming. At first I thought, ‘Well, someone’s not in a good mood.’ Then I looked down to see a sick baby sitting in his car seat beside her. She’d run out of sick days. As I lay in the tanning bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the overwhelmed look on her face.”
‘I noticed two blacked out police cars in the yard. A detective inched closer. ‘Your father is dead.’ Lottery ticket rumors spread throughout the family.’: Man honors late father by chasing dreams, becoming better father
“He proceeded to tell me he was murdered. Rumors spread he was shot over a lottery ticket. ‘I can’t go into detail due to investigation.’ I was in shock. At the burial service, we watched as he was placed 6 feet under. I remember standing in the rain, not caring it was pouring. Still on probation, the only thing I could hear was my father’s voice: ‘My son is going to make some money one day singing and playing guitar.’ I owed it to him to be better, to do better.”
‘I was awake, shaking in the fetal position under a fence with my spinal chord split in half. ‘She won’t make it till morning.’: Paralyzed woman celebrates life after forced into motorcycle police chase
“He was drinking a lot and took some pills. I was forced onto his bike and he took off very fast, driving recklessly. Terrified, I clung to him. A cop quickly pulled behind us. He sped off at 100 mph. That’s when it happened. I didn’t wake up until a month and a half later. ‘This can’t be real.’ I was heartbroken with a pain I’d never felt before. ‘Where are my babies?!’ When they came to visit, they wouldn’t even come near me. They couldn’t recognize me anymore.”
‘You aren’t bothered that you aren’t getting to play?’ Her response rocked my world: ‘I know what my role is and I’m okay with it.’: Mom learns powerful lesson about sports from daughter, ‘Not everyone can be the star’
“I had never had a kid be a benchwarmer before. I didn’t know how to be the parent of a kid who didn’t play. I didn’t know how to get excited for the team when my kid wasn’t on the floor. It was a new role for me, and I didn’t like it. What really bothered me most was that it seemed to NOT bother her. After 2 weeks into the season, I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer.”