Surprise!
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‘My mom was Rita. My sisters were Carla and Wendy.’ I wasn’t on the plane. My father got the phone call.’ Woman and and husband overcome grief together, ‘We chose to live’
“I met a guy recently orphaned, and left to care for his 21-year-old brother with special needs. My stepmother said, ‘He’ll never make anything of himself.’ I’m glad I didn’t listen.”
‘Was there a power failure that night?’ My brother and I are close, but not to the point of sharing baby-making plans.’: Mom tells amazing story about how surprise co-pregnancies resulted in ‘twousins’
“’Guess when our baby is due?’ I remember them asking with a smirk on their faces. I couldn’t believe it when they told me. What were the chances? From that moment, the race was on.”
‘I met Dave in a pretty shady teen chat room. After 14 long years, I had my once in a lifetime experience.’: Woman shares roller-coaster, transatlantic, fairy tale online relationship
“After 10 lovely days together, I cried through the entire hour-long train ride from his flat to Heathrow Airport.”
‘My mother said, ‘We need to have a talk.’ She placed me in a trance. She kept me close, controlling all my decisions in the name of ‘love.’: Narcissistic abuse survivor urges ‘you deserve to be safe and happy’
“She made me feel special, then she controlled what clothes I could wear, what friends I could have, where I went to college, and my wedding. She wanted to ‘show me off’ to her friends. But there was a huge price to be paid. She found any excuse to keep me with my vices if it meant keeping me close to her.”
‘I’m fine! I have it figured out!’ I struggled in secret as I hid behind my smile. I woke up in a suicide room.’: Woman shares her ADHD journey to make mental health ‘less secretive and stigmatized’
“My therapist couldn’t fit my hours. I didn’t bother finding a new one because, ‘I’m fine!’ Then, I hoped the floor would open up and I would just disappear. These awful, yellow, smiley hospital socks were staring up at me.”
‘A flu-like bug started spreading. ‘You’re black and strong, nothing will happen to you.’ The healthy white girl got her own room instead.’: Dancer powerfully explains ‘I will never color my shoes’
“The makeup artist takes 30 minutes to figure out my foundation color. The theaters ask me to find my own flesh-toned tights and undies because ‘they don’t know where to get my color.’ I do my own hair because the ladies don’t know what to do with my curls. I will NEVER COLOR my shoes.”
‘It’s not remarkable to talk publicly about it. I don’t feel brave. We aren’t the ones who did something wrong.’: Mom and 2 daughters experience sexual assault, ‘All 3 of us are survivors’
“I don’t feel brave in sharing my story of sexual assault or the assault of our daughters. I feel afraid of what happens if we don’t. I’m claiming my story and revealing HIS shame.”
‘I hired a private detective. ‘For a few hundred more bucks, I can bring you face to face with your mother.’ Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was her missing me.’: Woman details life with addicted mother, ‘I vowed to be the best mom I can be’
“The doorbell rang at 6 a.m. I opened the door to see my mom standing between two policemen, muddy and handcuffed. She’d call me ‘Bucky,’ knowing I was self-conscious about my teeth. When I was 19 and getting married, no mom. When I was 20 and having my first baby, no mom. I had the same phone number for several years, but she never dialed it again.”
‘What do you MEAN you did chest compressions?’ I screamed. I won’t ever forget that call.’: Woman births micro preemie with pulmonary hypertension, ‘He never stopped fighting’
“I screamed in agony, convinced they would soon be bringing me back my tiny baby with looks of ‘there’s nothing we can do’ in their eyes. ‘His lungs are bad. Nothing is off the table.’ I kept asking for clarification about what ‘nothing’ meant.”
‘I woke up at 4 a.m. and shook Logan to wake up — this was it! He handed me his spoon to use and I sobbed.’: Couple share experience with PCOS, ‘It was something I’d never even heard of’
“When I was first diagnosed with PCOS, it was something I had never even heard of. I thought the doctor had to be wrong. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m guilty of keeping our secret for far too long.”
