“The doctor apologized with tears in her eyes, while I let out a confused ‘it’s okay,’ with tears building up in mine.”
‘Why the last 365 days after delivering my son silently sleeping were the worst and best days of my life.’
‘This is going to hurt.’ I immediately tried to stand up. I could feel the broken bones in my leg.’: Police officer recalls ‘humbling’ addiction journey after on-duty injury, ‘I didn’t set out to be an addict’
“Dispatch put out a call for a collision. I was quickly changing lanes, hell bent on handling my call. I remember the panic setting in. The chaos, the pain. ‘You’re staring down the barrel of amputation.’ I didn’t care. I wanted a fighting chance.”
‘I looked like an idiot pushing the cart, crying like a baby!’ 2 strangers build dream mailbox for 7-year-old with Autism
“I explained to them that my 7-year-old grandson has Autism and was fascinated with mailboxes. He said he had a few ideas and would put something together.”
‘I miss my friends. I don’t know why we’ve drifted.’
“When I saw her pop up today I got really sad.”
‘I knew my brother had died before I even picked up the phone’: Sister resented her mom’s grief for brother who overdosed until she had a son of her own
“My mom valued my brother’s death more than me, and I was still here.”
‘Why do people bring kids like that out in public?’ Mom calls out stranger who publicly shamed her severely autistic son
“Was I asking for your help? Your opinion? Your advice? Nope. But you, a man about 6-foot-3 and easily 250 pounds, watched a mom who could have easily been hurt and scared and made a situation worse.”
‘They showed up. They took over. They didn’t ask.’: Friends swoop in to help depressed woman when she needed them most
“Sheila is struggling. She needs our help. Let’s all go over there and unpack her apartment for her. Bring food. Let’s make it fun.”
‘Before I put her to bed, her face turned pale. She was screaming in pain. My husband read the word ‘leukemia,’ and I had this sickening feeling. The inevitable truth was seeping into our lives.’ Mom gets hit with triple diagnosis: Down Syndrome, Leukemia, & Typhlitis
“A few hours after going to the doctor, I was out shopping with my husband. He handed me the phone. ‘It’s the pediatrician.’ My heart stopped. Why was he calling so soon? And why was HE calling and not the nurse this time?! Then, he said the words I’d been fearing since Tessa’s birth. I didn’t have the strength to stand. I fell to my knees. I had no idea how to move forward.”
‘With both of us active duty soldiers, we’ve learned to adapt to spending more time apart than together, and live for the quiet moments.’
“I had just flown back from halfway across the globe, feeling as though my heart and soul had been drop-kicked across the Pacific. I spent the last of my savings to get home, with divorce papers clutched in one hand and the last of my dignity in the other.”
‘I did not like my children when this photo was taken. I actually resented them for existing.’
“I know some of your jaws are hanging open, probably disgusted thinking, ‘How the hell can someone dislike their own children?’ I know, it’s effed up, which is why it took me so long to tell anybody about it.”
‘I cost my parents thousands of dollars in medical bills because I was not ready to admit my problem.’: Woman overcomes severe eating disorders after finally admitting sexual assault
“When I was 13 I was sexually assaulted and hid it from my family. I gained more than 100 pounds to hide myself from the truth I didn’t want to believe. I was so bitter and angry for so long, but I survived each version of myself, and I’m better for it.”
‘Do you remember that crazy pact we made about getting married if we were single after 50?’: Couple follows through on their pact to get married
“He laughed and said ‘yeah, I do.’”
‘I couldn’t process it. Twin 2 was born without an eye, ear, nostril’: Single mom ‘plunged into a pool of guilt for something I was convinced I had caused’
“When Harry was almost 3-years-old he was also diagnosed with Autism and my guilt and grief intensified.”
‘Not a single person was there to say goodbye. He was frightened by the sound of his own giggle. But for the first time, he was shown love. He was going to learn just how loved he really was.’
“We stared at the babies on the website for almost a year, saying we will adopt ‘one day.’ Then I saw the picture of a precious baby boy. He was only a few months old, abandoned to live his life in an orphanage because he had an extra chromosome.”
‘The story of a girl, a baby and her first ever C-section.’: Mom’s HILARIOUSLY CANDID, all-too-real birthing experience
“I get into the operating room and it’s got more people than an over-30’s nightclub. Everyone is introducing themselves and what they do, but I only paid attention to the person with the drugs, her name was Emma. (I think.)”
‘Hey – I need to talk to you. We are switching seats. NOW.’: Stranger’s selfless act of kindness for woman being ridiculed for her weight on airplane
“He proceeded to text someone that he was sitting next to ‘a smelly fatty.’ Before I knew it, I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face. I sat and cried silently. I was so hurt.”
‘There is no heartbeat’: After 6 losses, woman’s best friend steps up with ‘the kindest offer we had ever received’
“I had reached my breaking point. My husband said to me, ‘Being a mom is more important than being pregnant.’ And he was so right.”
‘It has been a rough couple of weeks for Mason due to one TINY LITTLE FREAKING TICK!’
“It’s real, it’s scary, and it can most certainly happen to anyone.”
‘Nooo, my plan is ruined!’ Women shocked to learn they were both planning to propose on the exact same night
“She always pictured herself ending up with a guy, and the thought of ending up with a girl was not in the plan.”
‘Here is what you didn’t see. My chest was becoming tight, my vision was going fuzzy’: Why we teach kids NOT to pet service dogs
“My heart rate now nearly 120, I felt like I was going to vomit, luckily I made it to my car before the full effects of my heart rate hit me, like a ton of bricks. I almost lost consciousness.”
‘It just felt right’: Childhood friends on opposing teams embrace despite one just striking the other out
“ANY pitcher would be understood if he pumped his fists, pointed skyward, or became the center of a baseball pig pile.”
‘People look at me and my 4 kids and assume I’m just giving mom some ‘kid-free’ time. I just laugh.’: Man becomes full-time dad after emotional divorce, realizes kids need ‘all of him’
“I began to get random phone calls about my wife’s nighttime activities. ‘She’s my soul mate. She’ll come around,’ I’d tell myself. She started hinting at divorce, but I’d stop the conversation dead in its tracks. Then, she stopped showing up. The defining moment for me was seeing all of my kids asleep at the front door, hoping to see their mom if she happened to come home that night. My babies needed me to be strong for them.”
‘People don’t understand how important it is to NOT park on the blue/yellow lines’: Mother of child with special needs urges others to respect handicap parking rules
“We run into the issue of someone parking in the blue lines or placing their shopping cart on the lines and blocking our ramp about 1-2 times per week.”
‘Sleep when the baby sleeps, they said.’
“They didn’t tell me how tired I’d be.”
‘For those of you thinking of taking your family on vacation but you’re not 100% sure, TAKE. THE. TRIP.’
“A few years ago during a funeral visitation, I remember walking up to a casket to a grieving husband, friend, father. He left my husband and I with words we’ll never forget and since then we have lived those words.”