“You’ve been in Heaven for 75 days now, and there is this pandemic thing going on. Yep, right after you went to be with Jesus, the entire country shut down. On really ‘important days,’ like today, I find myself searching for you, even more than usual.”
‘No one has tried to fill your role. No one can love us the way you did. You were the GOAT. Not a day goes by we don’t celebrate you.’: Man pens letter to late wife on first birthday in heaven
‘I told him two men shot you, for no reason. ‘Do you wear sneakers. In heaven?’ It’s too big. He can’t swallow it.’: Mom of autistic son wonders how to take action for Ahmaud Arbery
“I don’t know what it’s like to watch behind me when I run, or worry someone may shoot me. I am a middle-aged white woman living in suburbia. I don’t know what it’s like to be you, but I do have a vulnerable child—not for the color of his skin, but for the invisible wiring inside his brain.”
‘I got pregnant a month after turning 21. I am living through a deployment and now, like everyone, surviving a pandemic.’: Mom asks others not to judge, ‘They should feel validated in their sorrow’
“After being on my own for five years, I moved in with family again (thanks deployment). Every single one of those situations brought a screeching halt to what I had planned ahead. People who imagined 2020 to be THEIR year, I absolutely see you.”
‘I heard him say to his sister Ellie, ‘I’m going to save these for you. We can all have chocolate for my birthday!’ I swelled with pride.’: Mom explains why teaching kids to share is a ‘priority’
“Today my son woke up to birthday presents. Right away, he gave out his chocolate to his siblings and his mommy and daddy. Next, he gave his sisters a balloon for their bedroom. We have never FORCED them to share. We’ve just always modeled it.”
‘They said I mishandled the baby. All the blame came to me. She was met with 18 fractures and a brain hemorrhage.’: Mom of child with Osteogenesis imperfecta says ‘I won’t give up’
“She keeps on crying in devastating fear of breaking. But the smile on my little fighter’s face always pulls me up. Her twinkling eyes always said, ‘Yes mommy! I can do it.’ My husband and I were blank and confused.”
‘This was NOT in the plan. Everyone was supposed to stay home.’ His daughter had been to Walmart and the grocery store a few days prior.’: Stepmom urges ‘keep everyone as safe as you possibly can’
“I could tell they were having a heated conversation. I took the boys to the backyard and waited. His hands were shaky as he called her mom and said she had to come to pick her up. I was so frustrated. Here he was, telling his daughter she has to go home before she even gets out of the car.”
‘Today my 80-year-old in-laws drove by to sing to me. ‘We know this isn’t the birthday you imagined, but we wanted a chance to see to you in person.’: Woman says ‘the power of human connection’ is stronger than ever
“Let me tell you, this is a weird time to have a birthday. But do you know the nice part about a birthday during crisis? Loved ones still ‘show up.’ It might not be physically, but they are still there.”
‘You are an excuse to be goofy at a time when the world is not. You are chubby-cheeked hope for the future, a constant reminder that life goes on.’: Dad shares ‘fairy tale’ IVF birth, ‘All that matters is the family we choose’
“You are a child of the COVID pandemic. When we wake you up from your crib, you look at us with such electric excitement that it is impossible not to start each day with love. You have shown us how to surrender to stillness, to stand together through fear, and to see the beauty in every moment. You are our reason to play and dance and keep smiling.”
‘I walked in to pick up my daughter’s birthday cake. ‘A stranger left you a note.’ I broke down in tears as soon as I read it.’: Grieving mom surprises stranger with act of kindness, ‘You took a sad day and turned it around’
“My daughter cried for a birthday party. To be honest, I didn’t want to throw one at all. There were so many expectations as a mom to have everything perfect. I gave in. ‘My son Nehemiah would be 8-years-old today. Hold your baby a little tighter today.’ It was my daughter’s 8th birthday. I broke down in tears.”
‘I don’t think he knows what to do. I don’t think he’s ever had a birthday party before.’: Family throws party for rescue dog, ‘He is a completely different dog than when we first got him.’
“You should know I was adopted. After I moved in with my new family, I realized how lucky I was to be there. All the love and food I could ever want! They were all looking at me while they were attempting to sing. Wait a minute… is it MY birthday? On the counter was a huge birthday cake with writing on it.”
