“Suddenly I had teenagers, was divorced and alone, and looking to buy size 22 jeans. All of this really rocked my world, to put it mildly. It was time to get my power back.”
‘I started easy. I bought smaller plates.’ Mom loses 100 pounds doing this ‘her way’ because ‘wine night will still happen’
‘He had been diagnosed with cancer and wouldn’t make it to her wedding. She immediately made a decision to fly down there – wedding dress in tow – for his first chemo session.’
“I got the text, ‘My dad passed away this evening. I will treasure these forever.’ I couldn’t move. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING compared to the way her dad looked at her in that dress.”
28 Years After Divorce, My Dad Still Mows My Mom’s Lawn
“This is co-parenting.”
‘My daughter was knocked out. Joking, I asked if she was breathing. Until I felt no movement.’: Mom loses daughter to undiagnosed childhood diabetes
“Her blood sugar level was in the 500s. How could she have died from a disease thousands of people manage? My baby had undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. I could not comprehend.”
‘It’s amazing how many mothers beat themselves up. When you ask what support they have, what village they have, they can’t define it.’
“When you feel depressed and lonely, think about it, where’s your village?”
Why Parents Of Trans Kids Are A SPECIAL Kind Of Tired
“It’s different than most versions of tired.”
‘My son was 4 days from 8 months old. Never one health concern. Then, just like that, he was gone.’: Mom finally celebrates her late son’s birthday after losing him to SIDS
“I collapsed on my front lawn. I begged God to take me instead, to wake me up from this nightmare. How did my healthy, perfect boy fall asleep for a nap and not wake up? I sobbed over how he’d never have a first birthday. But I decided we’d celebrate anyway.”
I am an EMT. We respond to patients who are anxious, suicidal. I often think to myself, ‘What if you were the psych patient?’ Well, I have been.
“I felt like I did not deserve to have a life nor the career I do to help people if I, myself, am ‘crazy.'”
‘The hospital had never seen anyone like him. They said he wouldn’t walk, he may even have fetal alcohol syndrome, but he needed a home, TODAY.’: Mom adopts special needs son
“Child waiting in hospital for 2.5 months, can’t find placement. Has no femur bones and is medically fragile. We made our decision, but what would our friends and family think of us?”
‘What are you doing, Mommy?’ ‘Oh nothing, Sweetie.’ That was the honest, ridiculous truth.
“I was scrolling through my phone, doing absolutely nothing. Nothing of value. Nothing worthy of taking my attention from him. And him asking that of me —it made me uncomfortable.”
‘After my dad died, I would beg him every night to visit me in my dreams. 6 months to the day after his passing, he finally delivered in a major way.’
“I just kept whispering, ‘Show me your face. Just show me your face. Please Dad, I just want to see your face.’”
‘It just makes me feel good.’: 94-year-old WWII veteran has handed out 6,000 chocolate bars to strangers
“You’d think I’d given them keys to a new car. Honest to God, these people were thunderstruck.”
‘We lost Addy on June 3rd. We found out 3 weeks later my wife was pregnant.’ Father reveals pregnancy news 3 months after losing daughter to aggressive brain tumor
“We didn’t have much time left with her, but our hope was to have her long enough to tell her she was going to be a big sister. It would have lit up her world. That happy news was never delivered.”
To The Woman Wondering Why She Wasn’t Invited
“And then I remember this one beautiful truth: I’m not her anymore.”
‘I saw him picking up playdough. He stopped, smiled and gave me the most beautiful engagement ring I have ever seen. I couldn’t catch my breath.’
“I never wanted to take that ring off. I didn’t want to be a widow. Yet, as I was washing dishes, I heard it hit the sink as it slipped off my hand. I just knew. He was telling me it’s ok to move on.”
‘Where does the time go?’ It’s amazing how parents are so shocked by all the things that have changed in our children.
“Some parents comment on how tall their child has gotten. Or how their daughter’s baby pudge is finally gone. One thing I have learned is how time moves differently when you are raising a family.”
‘Dad is losing mom at a more rapid pace than he wants her to go. She no longer reaches for his hand. She doesn’t lean in to kiss him. He feels so alone.’
“He doesn’t want to leave mom, but he feels like he doesn’t belong there. He hates the feeling of losing his freedom. My heart aches for him.”
‘People assume they have us figured out. The un-ringed left hand, tattoos, a Mama with diverse children, no doubt living off the government.’
“If they only knew.”
‘I don’t use makeup because I’m ashamed of my disease but because I feel entitled to not be defined by it.’
“It’s a way to distract myself and hide the raw emotions of my mental, emotional, and physical struggles. The power of makeup has been a nice reminder that through my suffering, the true me is still in there.”
‘He’s out here everyday in the hot sun trying to earn money, and not beg for it or rob for it.’
“I barely even know him but he has touched and inspired me so much.”
‘I was just raped thousands of miles away from home as a 15-year-old, and I was scared.’
“I kept quiet about the incident out of sheer terror. Raising a girl is so terrifying when you’ve seen the ugliest parts of what being a girl has to offer at times.”
My Child Was Born Still, And I Will Never Be The Same
“You realize how profound and deafening silence can really be.”
‘We are so lucky to have a human like Terry. Terry just came along one day and introduced himself. He said he’d like to brush cats.’
“He also accidentally falls asleep most days. We don’t mind – Cats need this!”
‘But he was fine just last week.’ I know the look on a mother’s face the moment she is told her child has cancer after a ‘routine’ ER visit for a sore throat.
“Is he going to die? How is this happening? I can’t believe this is happening. This. Isn’t. Happening.”
Dear Women: You Are ALLOWED To Depend On A Man
“As if somehow depending on a man is weak or makes you less of a woman…”