“Purple has always been Mom’s favorite color. She was a devoted, loving mother to 3 children. But at age 13, purple and I became enemies on an unforgettable day. My normally reserved Mother sat on her purple chair beside the purple table babbling nonsensically about her purple 10-dollar bill. That night was the first of many times Mom was hospitalized.”
‘At 18, it was my turn to hospitalize my mother. Was my fate sealed? My dad assured me I was different.’: Daughter struggles with mom’s bipolar disorder, how a ‘pivotal moment’ helped her heal
‘It’s not how you look, it’s how you FEEL!’: 8-year-old rocks red ball gown in school pictures, mom can’t argue with her confidence
“‘Click, click, swoosh, swoosh’ was all I heard as my 8-year-old daughter emerged from her bedroom. It was just after 7:30 a.m. – she was wearing silver high heels and a floor-length, red, jeweled, ball gown. My initial thought was, ‘She must think it’s Saturday.’ It was indeed a school-day. Not only that, it was the all-important, everlasting PICTURE DAY! Oh, she knew.”
‘No one can take this pain away, so I must take it away myself. Lay me next to my daughter.’: Mom speaks candidly of ‘suicidal thoughts’ in wake of stillbirth, ‘I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’
“There are no visible wounds, but the pain courses through my entire being. I breathe in through my nose, blow out of my mouth. I’m alive, but being alive without my daughter hurts. I can’t wipe the tears away. It’s too much effort. I can’t move, even if I wanted to. I don’t want to pee. Eat. Shower. Brush my teeth. I see my dad’s face, and he wants me here. To hold on. To live.”
It’s None Of Your Business Whether I Pump Or Breastfeed
“Moms, you do you. Choose whatever you feel best for yourself and your baby.”
‘It’s just one night. It won’t hurt.’ I was just so doggone tired.’: Mom begs parents not to bedshare, cosleep, ‘I wish I’d listened’
“I didn’t think about the dangers, even though my husband and I argued every night about it. He’s not my husband anymore. My other two children have now been adopted by another family. I lost everything – just because I took that risk.”
After Years Of Abuse, I Was Finally Adopted Into My ‘Forever Family’ At 22
“The last time a police officer came to my house, he asked, ‘Do you want to go get a cookie?’ I was only 5, so that was a big deal. I didn’t understand why my biological mom was crying as we drove away. We picked up my sister at school, then waited at DHS to drive us to a foster home. All we had were the clothes on our backs, and even those were dirty. ‘I need a place to stay until I figure out where to go,’ I said.”
‘Please, don’t let them forget me.’ Time stood still. ‘Do you want to come off the ventilator?’ He nodded yes.’: Woman loses husband to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, leaves behind death letter ‘asking everyone to donate blood’
“In weeks, my husband went from being able to drive to and from work, to having to be driven to work, to working from home. One day, got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. He was so unsteady that I held my breath while I listened for him to return to bed. He made a stop in our children’s rooms to give them each a kiss. I had this terrible thought it would be the last time he’d do so.”
‘He opened his beautiful, dark grey eyes, wise beyond his years. We made him comfortable, and waited.’: Mom vows ‘as long as I live, Daniel’s memory will too’ after losing son to congenital heart defect
“At the end of this long, exhausting appointment, Charity says, ‘Oh, and congratulations on your baby.’ Congratulations on our baby? You mean the one you told me is going to die? I ran out of that room so fast. Despite it all, his broken heart kept beating. I recall a single tear escaping my eye and falling on his face.”
‘I’m pregnant,’ trembled out of my mouth. I was 16. My mom looked at me with shame, told me to move out.’: 16-year-old teen mom works 3 jobs to make ends meet, graduates nursing school with honors
“I made the decision to keep the baby. As word spread, I could no longer bear going to school. I gave birth, terrified. My nurse had been a teen mom. She stayed with me the entire time. ‘I see something special in you, you can do this.’ In that moment, I knew I was going to be a good mom. For you Ella, I would do it all over again.”
‘Pack your stuff and leave him.’ I should have never said this. She fled 300 miles from her abuser and never made it home.’: Mom raises awareness about domestic violence after losing daughter
“My poor baby was found with finger marks around her throat. Her phone was factory reset. The apartment smelled of bleach and ALL her clothes were washed. He tried to hide her laptop and stole personal items. Yet, he was only charged with drug trafficking. And here we are, living a life sentence without our girl.”
‘The whole night he didn’t leave my side.’: Woman thanks Marine stranger for ‘tackling me, covering me from the fire’ during Las Vegas mass shooting to ensure her safety
“He looked at me and said, ‘We have to get out of here. We can’t stay here. It’s not safe.’ We just started to run.”
‘My son’s school had a ‘Heroes Parade.’ My son went as Mr. Rogers.’: Mom praises Fred Rogers for being a ‘truth teller’ and ‘trailblazer,’ leading the way children like her autistic son
“‘I like you just the way you are.’ Fred Rogers’ words strike such a chord with me because my son has a disability: autism. Fifty years ago, Mr. Rogers’ message was to ‘love thy neighbor,’ and five decades later we need to hear that more than ever.”
‘Everyone knows I’m waiting until 7 a.m. to get ‘the alcohol.’ 6 minutes left. Enter Shirley, my cashier.’: Woman’s unexpected run-in with 2 Walmart employees leaves her ‘humbled, choked up’
“Everything was running smoothly until she came upon my bottle of wine. Apparently, they don’t sell alcohol until 7:00 a.m. She said I could wait. After all, it was only 23 minutes. ‘Mmmhmmm, she’s waitin’ on the alcohol.’ I started waving and threw in some ‘hey’s!’ But then Shirley started telling me about her life. I began crying in line.”
‘No big deal, what’s a poopy diaper? I start to change her, and realize it’s a poop-trophe. I’m not panicked, grab the wipes.’: Mom’s hilarious play-by-play of cleaning up daughter’s disastrous diaper blowout on playground slide
“She’s going down the slide, butt naked, COVERED in poop, leaving a long skid mark of poop allllllll the way down on her way.”
Police Officers Are People Too—No Training Can Prepare Us For What We See
“The next time you see an officer, or any first responder, remember that they are people first and there is no training in the world that prepares them for the things they see and do on a daily basis.”
‘The officer asked, ‘If you’re a nurse, why are you with a junkie?’ They searched for ‘evidence.’ My person was gone.’: Woman says love of her life died of addiction because of ‘shame, stigma’ surrounding the disease
“I baked cheddar scones — they were Jared’s favorite. I took a nap. When I awoke, it was dark outside, and he wasn’t in the house. He said he’d gone out for air. When he came back, he went straight to the bathroom, yelling at me to ‘mind my own business.’ He never talked to me like this. His voice dripped with anger. I don’t know why, but I listened. I got in my car. When I came back, the washing machine was running. He’d started my laundry. I walked through the kitchen and that’s when I saw him face down in our living room.”
‘Are you willing to foster a teen?’ I was 19, male. I didn’t think I’d be taken seriously.’: Man who grew up in foster care adopts 3 children, ‘I want them to grow up loved’
“At 19, I moved into my own place and worked like a dog. I felt unfulfilled, but wasn’t sure what I was missing. One day, I picked up an employment newsletter. There it was. ‘Become a Foster Parent Today. Must be 18.’ A month later, I got a call asking to take in a 7-year-old boy. Imagine my surprise to see a white child waiting for me at the supermarket! I was internally panicking. I’d never interacted with a white child before and had no clue how to care for one!”
‘I know this is weird because you don’t know me, but you’re adopted right?’ I replied yes. My heart ached for this girl.’: Teenage adoptee catfished by woman claiming she was placing baby for adoption
“She wasn’t Callie. The pictures she sent weren’t her. The pictures of her baby, weren’t her baby. Things weren’t adding up. Details changed, intuition came in. She agreed to let us see her real face. The voice we’d talked hours to was coming out of someone we didn’t recognize.”
‘When so many of our friends are choosing divorce, we’ve held strong.’: Wife says she promises to love husband forever, ‘as long as he makes a few promises’
“I know it can seem like we’re miles apart, even though we are under the same roof. There isn’t much time left for just us. But I want you to know, I promise to always choose you. It’s always been you. So, what do you say… can we make some promises?”
‘Is your husband deaf, too?’ No, but he’s the most patient man I’ve ever met.’: Cancer survivor marries ‘hearing husband,’ claims ‘hardships’ make her ‘glad to be born deaf’
“Yes, I’m deaf and my husband can hear. He reminds me when I leave the water running because I can’t hear it, or when my car is making a funny noise. He makes all my appointments over the phone. The amount of times I’ve said, ‘Huh? I have no idea what you’re saying,’ are endless. But I seriously couldn’t do life without him by my side acting as my ears and being my person. He makes me glad to be born deaf.”
‘A complete stranger came up to us. ‘Yo, what are you doing?’ He was a man, of course.’: Woman worried stranger ‘might have a gun,’ is ‘sick of being scared of men’
“We didn’t want to talk to him, and we said so. He responded aggressively. ‘Chill, I just wanted to see where you were going.’ Sara responded, ‘No. We are busy and don’t want to talk to you.’ He persisted. ‘You don’t look effing busy.’ In the middle of an upscale neighborhood, on a busy sidewalk, I was scared.”
Visit Your High School Friends, They’ll Guide You Back To Your Roots
“They are the ones that will remind you that true friendship doesn’t require much but means everything.”
‘How can I smile when Justin is dead? How can I ever smile again?’: Mom feels immense ‘guilt’ for enjoying newborn son after husband’s sudden death by ‘stray bullet’
“I remember the exact moment I first smiled again after Justin died. I’d cried so much, I was caught off guard when it happened. I was a new mom. Instead of celebrating a life, I was mourning one. Days after our son was born, he was killed by a stray bullet. My friend was next to me, ‘Honey, it’s okay to smile at your baby.’ I protested. But then I realized, ‘OH MY GOD, I’M MISSING OUT ON MY BABY!’”
‘Overnight, everything changes. I’ve lost my ability to work, exercise, heck, even drink coffee.’: Mom says motherhood is ‘hard,’ but hard is not ‘bad, wrong or forever’
“I don’t think wanting a shower without a baby crying or a meal with two arms is a horrible thing, and it certainly doesn’t make you (or me) a bad mom, or a selfish person, or even an unfaithful woman.”
‘To my ex-husband’s family: You didn’t have to continue loving me, but you do.’: Woman pens emotional letter to in-laws, ‘You’ve turned unfortunate circumstance into something beautiful’
“I was married before, to a man that needed to be rescued and saved. I realized in marriage that I’m no lifeguard. I could only rescue myself and my beautiful kids, and I did just that. I divorced. My in-laws, the first time you welcomed all of us into your homes I watched, mesmerized, as my new husband stood next to your family, enjoying each other’s company. It was a simple moment, but it took my breath away.”