“He was coming home from a party after drinking more than he should have. He lost control of the car. It was an eerily morning knock. There stood my mom and Papaw. ‘You brother’s been in an accident. He didn’t make it.’ Instead of reaching for closure and clarity, I reached for the bottle. I was well on my way to being the last living child for my parents to bury.”
‘You have to choose right now. Me or him.’ That was the last time I saw my brother alive.’: Woman battles 10-year addiction after brother’s death, starts ‘new chapter’ after near-death experience
‘It was just her and I. We laid in her bed, holding this sweet boy, talking about the future. As 48 hours passed, it came time for us to leave the hospital. We all walked out together, one family.’
“She asked pressing questions about parts of parenting we hadn’t even considered. ‘Do you plan to say at home? What will you do if your child doesn’t believe in what you believe? What type of school system do you want your children to attend?’”
‘Nash started choking on popcorn. The next day he had a weird cough. He felt warm and was super fussy.’: Mom warns about giving popcorn to toddlers after ‘eye-opening’ aspirating accident
“Last Saturday night we were all watching a movie and eating popcorn, which is a very frequent event in our home. After a long night, my son’s breathing looked a little labored to me and he had a fever. I gave him Motrin and put him to bed. I called my pediatrician. ‘Nash needs to be seen ASAP.’ Thank goodness I trusted my instincts.”
‘My friends ghosted me when my mom died.’
“I didn’t see it then, I just noticed the calls became less frequent and the invites were scarce. I turned around and it was like everyone just disappeared.”
‘Once again, my cousin was pregnant. She was due 6 months after me. She was in a toxic relationship with a man hooked on drugs.’: Woman adopts multiple babies from cousin, finds out she’s pregnant while battling cancer
“We found out she was pregnant with baby number 5. She had decided she just couldn’t parent the kids. My husband and I knew we couldn’t do two babies so close together. My son was only 11 months. Having three kids, two of whom had special needs, it just was too much on us.”
‘This elderly man needed pain meds for his wife. ‘It’s in aisle 6.’ He struggled to navigate the supermarket.’: Woman helps elderly man in simple act of kindness when no one else would
“Today, I watched an elderly man who had obviously fallen, with a huge scrape and blood on his leg. He walked past people in the cafe, while he slowly made his way to his car. Not one person stopped. Or looked. Or acknowledged him.”
‘And you continued the pregnancy anyways?,’ he said in a shocked and condescending tone, as he shook his head.’: Mom gives birth to child with Edward’s Syndrome
“My marriage was falling apart. He wanted to terminate the pregnancy for fear of inflicting unnecessary suffering on her. ‘What’s the point?,’ I overheard in the corner of the room. I was laboring alone. My husband and I’s marriage was in shambles at that point. My living unicorn was born with a full head of hair, and a palpable will to live. There wasn’t a dry eye in that delivery room.”
‘I saw adulterous texts on his phone. I had a dress, the church, the bridesmaids. The wedding was already planned.’: Adopted woman overcomes affair and domestic abuse to find two half sisters
“He went from leaving his phone out and unlocked to taking it to the bathroom with him when he’d shower and keeping it in his pocket when we were home. After I thought he was asleep, I went searching for his phone, frantically digging in his multi-pocketed fishing coat. He heard me and came at me like a bat out of hell.”
‘If I wasn’t around, Zach could find someone he could have a family with. If I wasn’t here, he wouldn’t have to worry. These are MY problems. No one else should have to deal with them!’
“I was different. I couldn’t go to sleepover with just a change of clothes and my pillow. Other girls thought I was weird, boys didn’t think I was cute. They thought I was contagious and they would ‘catch’ it.”
‘I stopped at the gas station and purchased two energy drinks. I had a normal evening, fell asleep on my couch. Then she heard a strange noise.’: Man experiences grand mal seizure after consuming energy drinks
“My head was locked in the corner of the couch and my lungs filled with fluid. My mother’s room was down the hall. She found me with no pulse, called 911 and got my dad, who was a nurse. He started to administer CPR.”
‘I pull into the school parking lot. I check my makeup. I walk to the front doors and wait to be escorted in. Memories flood my mind of all the chaos.’
“The bullying started over my relationship. People started rumors that I made myself throw up, prank called me and posted things online. I feel vulnerable and exposed. As I take a deep breath, I walk into the huge room.”
‘That’s strange. Why is she lying backwards on her bed?’ She looked peaceful, like she was in a deep sleep. I rocked her. She rolled on her back, lifeless.’: Woman loses identical twin to Addison’s disease, gets winks from heaven
“We were identical twins that spent out lives together. I knocked on the door. No answer. I tried to go in, but the door was locked. Frantic, I searched for a key and opened it myself. Molly, our dog who usually bolts into Courtney’s room was now hiding in her cage.”
‘I’m Lebanese. He’s African American. No one approved of us. The longer we dated, the more friends began to slip away.’: Woman claims ‘intolerance’ only made her interracial relationship ‘grow stronger’
“We quickly found ourselves without friends, but we persisted. I remember hearing family make racist jokes and remarks like, ‘They don’t belong here.’ We were warned not to show affection for one another. But we leaned on each other when we had no one else to lean on. I never ONCE cared about the color of his skin.”
‘Wrap this around your arm and place the utensil here’, they’d say. That didn’t last long! She is ‘BOUT IT!’ I couldn’t accept this disability. Where has it been? Why now?’
“There were no ‘accommodations’ growing up. I had to clean my room. I had to have my homework finished before I could play. If I got in trouble, consequences came with it. I was 12 years old and approached with a life changing choice. You’re disabled! What are you going to do?”
‘Wonder why your partner is cranky? It’s not because she isn’t interested in sex. Nope. Us women, we love it.’: Woman says she needs more help
“Before you tap her on the shoulder because your peen is doing the electric boogaloo in your pants, ask yourself… have I helped out today?”
‘He’d been having an affair. Not only that, but he ‘loved’ this other woman. My husband was my rock.’: Woman overcomes affair to have ‘miracle’ baby
“My husband had a vasectomy and we paid an absurd amount of money to get it reversed. He ‘loved’ this other woman and didn’t think he and I should stay together. We were approached about a pregnant woman looking for an adoptive family for her baby. It took several days of hard prayer, but he agreed to not see this other woman while we went through counseling.”
‘When would you like to terminate?,’ she asked. ‘NO. We are his parents.’ My husband and I had just been hit with such horrifying news.’
“I was reading the last of my family’s texts full of love and support before getting wheeled back to surgery. I thought, ‘Here goes nothing.’ I took a deep breath, and the room was suddenly very quiet.”
‘It all started when I got on Instagram. I became one of those girls. The Insta famous ones who always look amazing.’
“I had messages constantly telling me how jealous people were of my life. When in fact, I was just like them. Sitting there, reading their messages in my sweatpants. Battling my own demons.”
‘You won’t be able to fly. You have to get off the plane.’ I had already explained it was a genetic condition.’: Woman with Ichthyosis removed from plane, ‘This was unacceptable and uncalled for’
“An airline employee quietly asked about ‘my rash.'”
‘Are you ready to hold your daughter?’ My eyes wide open, I nodded. After delivering my triplets, hours after my first child died, you took pictures of my sweet babies.’
“The shock of staring at their translucent, 1-pound bodies, consumed me. The guilt overwhelmed me as I looked at the machines keeping my children alive. Yet, there was no judgement from you, our nurse.”
‘I was so nervous to have sex. I was 3 months postpartum. We booked a hotel for our first night away since the triplets were born.’
“On our first night away post-babies, I realized a lot about intimacy.”
‘We were told, ‘Having 6 children significantly reduces chances of a birth mother selecting your family.’ The call to adopt was hard to ignore.’: Woman adopts 7th child, develops special relationship with teen birth mom
“’When he’s placed in your arms, and all he knows is you and all he has is you. The same parental instinct that cares and protects our other children, will develop.’ I held out hope my husband and God would show our family the path we were supposed to be on.”
‘Something weird was happening. My abdomen started to swell. I appeared 7 months pregnant. The second we left the clinic, fear invaded us.’: Mom births quadruplets, claims she wouldn’t ‘change it for anything in the world’
“‘There’s something out of the ordinary here.’ They extracted four liters of the mystery fluid from my body, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They performed several tests and it was determined that, health wise, I was fine. Soon after, I decided to do a pregnancy test. I was looking at not 1 or 2 embryos, but 4. Quadruplets!”
‘It’s okay, Grandma.’ Just like that, the love of my life was gone.’: Woman shares touching moment late grandmother passes
“The next morning, I got a call. ‘She won’t answer the phone or come to the door.’ 25 nerve-wracking minutes later, we found her. I was standing at the head of the bed. I brushed her hair with one hand, her shoulder with the other. I wish I could tell you she looked peaceful, but she didn’t. She looked scared.”
‘This chip clip saved my life tonight. I had a migraine start almost 12 hours ago and it was at an unbearable limit.’
“I had exhausted all of my drugs and tricks. I glanced at the counter and saw this chip clip. Within one minute I had some relief.”