“Our teen stayed for a few months with her son. Just enough time for me to get used to make-up all over the counter. When she left, I started leaving my eyeshadow out just so it felt like she was still here.
‘I told her, ‘I love you,’ for the last time. We thought we were prepared. I couldn’t get out of bed for 2 days.’: Mom feels grief and joy for foster kids, ‘Our definition of family has changed for the better’
‘There was no sugar-coating it. Her brain was bleeding. We we warned, ‘She may end up blind, deaf, or mute.’: Daughter born with hydrocephalus, ‘I find joy in every single second’
“She’s had 100 brain surgeries. I’ve sat alone in a waiting room in the middle of the night after signing consent forms for emergency surgery, not knowing how she was going to be when she made it out. If she made it out. But it’s obvious she’s not giving up.”
‘My husband misses every kick. I have to birth and care for this baby by myself.’: Pregnant Air Force paramedic works alone during Covid-19, ‘I swore to make sacrifices to get the mission done’
“A couple of months until the deployment, the news hit. Things were getting bad. My husband wouldn’t have the chance to come home for the birth of his daughter. I didn’t know what it meant for my baby. I still continue to do my job. I made a commitment.”
‘Would you change things?’ I answer without hesitation, ‘No.’ We looked like a happy couple, but we both knew it was over.’: Super Dad is single father to 3 kids, ‘I’ve learned how to literally be 2 people at the same time.’
“It seems like I’m just a cool dad having fun while his wife is at work. But that’s not the case. We looked like a happy couple. You’d never know I was sleeping in my children’s playroom on a futon. I remember my mentor being honest with me, ‘You are an African American male in Texas, serving in the military. It’s highly unlikely you’ll get primary custody of your kids.’ I joined the 15 percent of single dads around the world that have primary custody of their kids. Now, I’m a full-time father of the 3 most resilient kids I know.”
‘What the heck, I’m not ready. I wasn’t expecting this.’ Everything we knew had taken a sudden shift.’: 20-year-old gets positive pregnancy test same day as husband’s deployment, ‘I couldn’t handle going through it alone’
“The first day he came home, we got pregnant. We’d been apart for 3 months straight – can you really blame us? The sun was just coming up. We were packing our car for the airport to say our goodbyes. I woke up feeling nauseous, so I took a pregnancy test. I immediately felt lightheaded and fell on my cold bathroom floor, bawling. Hayden sat next to me, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What do you want to do? It’s going to be okay.’ Before I knew it, Hayden was gone and I was on my way back home, alone.”
‘Would you be willing to adopt a two-month old baby boy? He’s been brutally attacked by his father.’: Military couple adopt ‘warrior’ Shaken Baby Syndrome survivor
“My husband was active-duty military when we felt the calling to foster. ‘You’re so strong little man.’ All we could hear was a shallow cry from his tiny mouth. ‘Please, God, let him live.’ We never left his side.”
‘John has hit his head. We’re on the way to pick you up,’ he said. ‘HIS HEAD?’ The room suddenly felt different, as if the air was being sucked out. Oh God no. ‘Maryanne, are you there?’
“My husband had responded to a break and enter complaint and was searching for an intruder. I raced to his side and grabbed his hand. ‘I love you,’ I whispered in his ear. No response. ‘I love you, John.’ And then, it happened again.”
‘This will be my Dad’s last parade. His heart is failing. All he talks about is the Memorial Day Parade – ‘Are you coming? I’ll be in my uniform.’
“We were unsure how to tell him he’s too weak to ride through the parade. Then we made the decision – we are going for it. We are putting him in his uniform and into a car, with a nurse, so one last time, he can see what he and his beloved wife did for our little town.”
‘Some of the bravest warriors I know aren’t the ones in uniforms, they are the ones left behind on the home front. Yes, I’m talking about you, military spouse.’: Wife pens appreciation letter to veteran husband
“I see you, military wife/husband. I see you standing quietly by their side as praise is given for their service.”
‘I’ve been hiding our family’s ‘secret’ for years. I have been silent. Masking our smiles. Faking OK. A complete nightmare. I am so sick of living in fear.’: Wife urges people to take mental health seriously
“The officer had actually committed suicide and faked his own murder. This brought out things in Ty I had never seen before. Our family has been in nonstop crisis.”
