“Folks, I grew up near New York City. The only thing I know about chickens is how to bake them at 350 degrees. ‘Mom! Mom! We have to save it!’ It was getting dark quickly.”
‘What do you mean you found a lost CHICKEN?’ My 12-year-old and her best friend came bursting through our side door.’: Mom urges ‘savor moments of joy in the chaos’
‘If you don’t like me because of my hands, your loss.’ Our differences make us unique. We’re enough just the way we are.’: Best friends advocate for limb differences, ‘You’re perfectly made’
“Never seeing anyone else like you can feel isolating. Most of my life, I’d carry a jacket over my arm, even in hot summer months. I didn’t want to acknowledge I was different. Now, I’m proud.”
‘Dear friend, it’s still me. Well, sort of. I’m no longer popping bottles, I’m pouring milk into them. I’m canceling a lot and it’s hard to explain why.’: Mom to newborn says ‘please keep inviting me, it means more than you know’
“I know you messaged me this morning…or was it yesterday? It’s all a bit of a blur and my phone is buried somewhere on my bedside that has never felt so small. I so badly want to reconnect with you, but I’m trying to reconnect with me too.”
‘She talks to him, even though she knows he can’t talk back.’: Mom shares ‘heart-melting’ friendship between non-verbal, autistic son and classmate
“She could bully him, pick on him because he is different. Instead, she doesn’t try to change him. She sits with him, holds his hand, and likes him just the way he is. This is not your typical love story.”
‘Thank you for pointing out my harsh panty lines, listening to my poop stories, and forgiving me when I forget to text back. You are the forever door to my safe place.’: Woman tells friends ‘this life wouldn’t be the same without you’
“Thank you for the Tylenol, the last bite of your pizza, the horrible selfies, the Groupon, the pep talks, the extra tampon, and the birthday text at midnight. Thank you for seeing all of my ugly, and choosing to stick with me anyway. This life wouldn’t be the same without you.”
‘Four years ago, I met a woman and her child at a public park. We became friends on Facebook and never saw each other again. Until last fall, when they joined us for Thanksgiving.’: Mom shares story of ‘friends who feel like family’
“As she chased behind her new friend, her mother and I struck up a conversation, and at some point she mentioned her daughter’s autism. My daughter was two at the time. I was at the beginning of my suspicions she shared that same diagnosis. This stranger—this mom—was the first person I told.”
‘We don’t have a perfect relationship. We yell, we cry, we get into petty fights. But in the end, we’d give our lives for one another.’: Woman shares ode to sister, ‘God gave me my best friend through biology’
“No one can make me as angry as my sister. However, no one can make me feel more loved. God gave me my best friend through biology.”
‘My 4-year-old came running. ‘Ms. Susan is bleeding. I need Band-Aids!’ He was by her side the whole time.’: Mom details sweet friendship between son and neighbor, ‘I am blown away’
“Every morning he gets up, brushes his teeth, and asks, ‘Can I go by Ms. Susan’s house?’ When she goes out of town, he gets upset and says, ‘She’s been gone for too long!’ She is the perfect best friend and neighbor my little boy could ask for.”
‘Some of us thrive under pressure, but some of us collapse. Everyone has their reasons. They aren’t in your life to be like you.’: Woman discusses the importance of diverse friendships, ‘Don’t let yourself be the reason one fails’
“They aren’t in your life to be more like you. They are in your life to be them and to serve the purpose on your path they are intended to. Not a single part of friendship is about control.”
‘Your sister passed away.’ In a matter of years, I lost half my immediate family. This grief is not linear.’: Woman pens moving grief journey, ‘I live every day with authenticity’
“My cousin showed up at my house. Though her voice was calm when she arrived, I knew in that moment my sister was gone. Her death would be under investigation. She’d been struggling for months.”
