“March 23rd. I start coughing up blood and it’s hard to breathe. My Apple Watch is saying my resting heart rate is 157. It’s never happened before, so obviously it’s concerning.”
‘You can’t withstand this storm.’ I AM THE STORM. I’m determined, I pushed myself harder than I ever have in my life.’: Woman recovering from COVID-19 and complications details hospital experience, ‘I will always keep fighting’
‘You need to get away. You need a BREAK.’ So what did I do? YUP, I called my sister. Who else would do this for me?’: Woman writes story praising ‘superstar’ late sister, ‘She was my rock’
“She called from the hospital to let me know she would try to be well enough to make that trip down here. She had COVID. She helped in every way possible for me to navigate widowhood. She was on the ventilator eight days. The one I leaned on my whole life.”
‘If you’re not excited, you’ll be a bad mom.’ Who decided this? What does THEIR life look like behind closed doors?’: Pregnant woman grieves ‘death’ of old self, urges ‘it’s okay to not be excited’
“I will never be the woman I was before the morning of July 4th, when we tried translating a Spanish pregnancy test in the morning light along the Mexican coast.”
‘You’re a survivor, not a victim.’ BOTH CAN BE TRUE. The mixed messages surrounding this are dizzying.’: Woman advocates for mental health awareness, ‘It took YEARS to rebuild my trust’
“Before Casey left the state with me, before he promised me forever and before we said ‘I do,’ I explained the mental weight I carried. Somehow I knew it would be an added challenge. I wasn’t wrong.”
‘It’s back and growing rapidly.’ We had a feeling this would be our last trip together, but we prayed it wasn’t so. NOTHING brought him relief of any kind.’: Widow recounts loss of husband, healing through nonprofit missionary work, ‘There is PURPOSE in the pain’
“The photo on this post is of my late husband and me. It was our last trip to Africa together. He looks a bit tired and haggard in the photo because, well, unknown to us when we set out on the trip, his cancer was back with a vengeance.”
‘OMG! It’s not working. Give him one more dose. ANOTHER.’ Everything went downhill, and FAST.’: Woman recounts heartbreaking and unexpected loss of father, ‘I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone’
“All day I kept having a weird feeling—like maybe I should call and ask him, ‘How are you?’ I just put it off as something else. The hospital assured us he was fine. I just shut down. I can’t explain it, but this switch in me just turned off. I don’t remember much after.”
‘It’s been hard to place my feelings lately. But as I sat in my car, tears streaming down to Faith Hill’s ‘Where Are You Christmas’ on the radio, I finally understood.’: Woman shares magical reminder ‘not even 2020 can take away the love in our hearts’
“I’m mourning the loss of the person I was just one short year ago. She feels like a stranger to me now. But when I least expected it, I was reminded of the most important thing that can’t be taken away from us, no matter how the world feels like it’s crumbling.”
‘I packed away my son’s newborn clothes last week. Tiny onesie by tiny onesie, my heart ACHED with thankfulness.’: Mom of rainbow baby will ‘never be sad’ when watching son grow
“I’ve stopped greeted aging with sadness. Instead, with gratitude and amazement. Life is fleeting. Life is precious.”
‘I was SO proud of my body before kids. Even when I would drop a dress size, I never felt it.’: Mom finds self-worth after struggling with body image, eating disorders, ‘every stretch mark tells a story’
“I was more ‘attractive’ to men. Found it easier to shop for clothes. Being thin actually made me more acceptable in society, it made me seem like I had my life together. I used to feel so validated by being skinny.”
‘The detective said, ‘I need to speak with you immediately. This is the strangest thing to ever happen at the New Jersey DEA. Come to the precinct at once.’: Mom hilariously recalls Christmas gift gone wrong, ‘The things we do for our kids’
“I tried to get the best Christmas gift for my daughter on Etsy and accidentally became embroiled in an international drug-smuggling ring. The things we do for our kids.”
