“When one child is not home or napping, it feels like spring break! And I’m whipping off my bra! Jokes. I don’t own one… three kids mean I have no money for bras… or new underwear without holes for that matter.”
‘You can’t squeeze 3 car seats in a Honda Civic anymore, SHARON. You gotta buy a minivan. And you better LIKE IT and act like you were never anti-minivan.’
‘I kept my baby. Even though I was 16, when everyone told me ‘kids shouldn’t have kids’ or that I’d ‘ruin my life,’ I kept my baby.’
“I knew some would think I slept around, that I was promiscuous. I knew that girls would talk. I knew there was a pill that could ‘take it all away.’ But I knew that was a lie anyway.”
‘Where does Nana live?’ You’ll think of her when a stranger walks by and you have to do a double take because for a minute, you could have sworn it was her.’
“You’ll think about the sound of her voice and the way her hugs felt. You’ll think about the ways she cared about every little detail of your day. You’ll think of her until one day, you realize thinking of her no longer hurts.”
‘I was standing 3 feet away from my son. He was on the step. I was telling kids to be safe. How ironic is that? It took less than a minute. He quietly slipped under.’
“Nothing angers me more than generic water safety messages for parents. As if we don’t already care enough to get them swim lessons. Water safety is NOT that simple. So, this won’t be one of those messages. This one is real, and it is raw I checked ALL the boxes a ‘good mom’ before going to the pool.”
‘No one sits next to a letterboard with wine all the time. They’d be too drunk to operate social media. For real.’
“These moms must have better jobs, better houses, better lives because everything looks perfect. They also all must be alcoholics, because everyone is always drinking all the time. Seriously, how are you not dead? One drink for me. Then one day I got a comment saying how awesome my life must be. My heart sunk.”
‘I didn’t feel safe in my own home. It took 3 years for me to find the courage to ask for a divorce. I developed stomach ulcers from all the stress. The end was inevitable.’
“I had experienced years of him ‘bending’ the truth, of him telling me I was ‘too much,’ trying to diagnose me with different types of mental illness. Little did I know, there was more to come. I found reserves I never knew I had, but that’s what moms do. We do everything possible to make sure our children don’t get hurt.”
‘He’s just a tomboy. He’s going through a phase.’ At the age of 2, my son began showing a fierce rejection of all things female. It didn’t enter my mind that my child could be trans.’
“She said something along the lines of, ‘Please be careful with waiting to allow your child to transition. That can be dangerous.’ And then she proceeded to tell me why.”
‘She laid there. I stroked her head, closed her eyes, kissed her. I removed her collar, and told her one last time, ‘I love you so much.’ I filled my pockets with tissues, and walked out.’
“A lady behind me in line was excited to see her. After a few head pets, the lady told her to ‘have a good day.’ I almost lost it. I almost fell to the floor. The cashier went to hand me my receipt and I missed. The tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t grab a receipt. I couldn’t speak.”
‘I heard you tell your kids you already ‘can’t wait until school starts’ because they’re driving you insane. Your face and tone were NOT joking.’
“To the annoyed mom at the store, I wasn’t eavesdropping. It can be so frustrating. I get it. But, I WISH I was doing that.”
‘We thought we had reached an agreement. My daughter would live with her dad. But I had no idea how hard they would make it. It was insane.’
“I felt strongly prompted to let her live with her dad. At first I ignored it. That was the worst thing I could ever imagine, and I would NEVER let it happen. Now she’s gone.”
