“I’m 17, and I have a long-distance boyfriend. He begs me for phone sex and I say no. ‘I’m sorry, I’m just not comfortable.’ I hang up on him, feeling guilty. He’s lonely in the Marine barracks. I’m all he has. He needs me. He suffers from depression, self-harm. A few nights later, I pause on the phone. I hear his heavy breathing, muffled moans. ‘Are you…?’ I ask. ‘Don’t stop. Keep talking,’ he pants. Feeling sick, I hang up the phone. I feel dirty and embarrassed. ‘Men will only go as far as you let them,’ I’ve been told. Boys will be boys.”
‘I’m 14, alone with a boy. ‘What if you had sex with me?’ He leers. ‘No thanks.’ ‘What if I held you down and made you?’: Survivor advocates for fellow survivors of the Me Too Movement, ‘Culture tells us not to complain. To keep quiet.’
‘My mom would say I was ‘ballooning.’ I was in 4th grade. She’d implement some new weird food rule for my ‘health.’: Woman is ‘blown away’ by body positive community, ‘I learned to love myself, heal my relationship with my body and soul’
“Maybe my mom thought I wasn’t smart enough to hear what she was really saying: ‘My daughter is broken, how do I fix her?’ I was working out. I was doing everything right, wasn’t I? ‘Why am I still fat?,’ I asked myself. I was 10. Eating 500 calories a day, no cheating. But it was there, in that despair, that my life started to change. I came across a plus-size woman’s account and was… blown away.”
‘I got a message on Facebook from our local fire chief. ‘You need to call us immediately.’ My heart stopped.’: Community rallies to help couple after shop destroyed by reckless driver
“‘He was going 90 mph. He hit the trailer, the shed, and drove through the entirety of the 40-foot building, and landed on your desk before fleeing.’ I shivered. If I wasn’t on vacation, I would have been right there, in that spot. ‘How can we survive this catastrophe?’ Soon, a couple stopped us. ‘We’re getting older. We’d like to give you something for free.’ I stopped. My breath hitched. I took a few moments to repeat the words in my head.”
‘I was shackled to this infant while my fiancé escaped to his 9 to 5 job. Her arrival spun me into a fear I’d never known.’: New mom copes with the reality of motherhood, ‘Most days I could barely get past my mailbox’
“As an only child raised by a single father, I was raised to be an independent woman. I was limitless. My fiancé barely tamed me, knowing if I set my mind to it, it would happen. The mundane cycle of robotic caring for my newborn was chipping away at my Gypsy soul. I felt trapped and terrified. I could no longer come and go as I please. My nipples bled, my breasts were engorged and I wanted to give up. I thought I could give birth and return to school only 10 days later.”
‘Please take down your ghoul. It’s scary and inappropriate.’ An anonymous neighbor sent me a letter.’: Mom ‘angry’ after neighbor complains about Halloween decorations, urges ‘let kids be kids’
“I was going through the mail that had accumulated over the last few days when I found a letter typed on white copy paper. ‘I hate to sound like a prude, but there are children that live on this street. Please take down your ghoul. It’s inappropriate. Love your cute pumpkins, though!’ My daughter was so excited about hanging up our Halloween decorations. I honestly didn’t know how to feel.”
‘Please,’ they begged. ‘Would you take in a newborn, just for the weekend?’ I knew my husband would say no.’: Foster mom adopts ‘special little boy,’ is forever grateful for her son ‘who almost wasn’t’
“I could literally hear water balloons whizzing over my husband’s head. ‘What?!! Are you crazy? Heck No!’ I expected this. But I couldn’t let it go. I pictured this baby alone, in need of someone to hold him, to help him feel safe. ‘Please honey, just consider it,’ I urged. ‘It’s only for the weekend!’ Around 9 p.m., there was a knock on my door. ‘We’ll take good care of you this weekend, little guy.’ I snuggled him softly.”
‘I saw a 3-year-old girl step onto a subway of Las Vegas strangers ALONE, and the doors were closing. I met eyes with a mom. Then, the subway bolted off.’ Woman recounts how ‘every mother’s nightmare’ of losing a child became reality
“The mom was gathering an unholy ton of luggage, and had turned away for just a moment. She looked up with absolute horror. People were suddenly shoulder to shoulder, crammed like sardines. I bent down to a sweet, terrified girl. Quiet tears fell before the shaking of her small sobs could be heard. There was no police. No security guard. No one, but her.”
‘You’re the only one who matters, do it for you. Blah Blah Blah.’ ‘If I hear one more phrase like this, I’m going to LOSE IT. What an absolute garbage thing to say.’
“Wanna know what’s wrong with the world? Crap like that. The word ‘self’ is at the beginning of every single buzz word right now, and it’s a problem. Self-care. Self-love. No, actually, you AREN’T the only one who matters.”
‘Oh, my goodness.’ I say out loud. ‘What mommy?’ I look down at my daughter. ‘Oh nothing,’ I say. The last thing I need is for my kindergartner to be afraid to go to school.’
“The hairs on my neck stood up for the first time. After picking my daughter up from school, I got a text message from my husband, a principal. ‘We’re in lockout,’ it said. It was unprecedented. Suddenly, it felt serious.”
‘When I was 13, my family and I moved into my mother’s ‘dream home.’ Just 8 months later, things would take a drastic turn.’
“It was a helpless day. We stood outside of our home knowing there was nothing we could do. At the end of the day, we had nothing but the clothes on our back.”
