“I see a flight attendant lock eyes and head our way, I freeze a bit. Since it feels like exactly zero people are ready to fly, I feel like this is a safe space to finally unpack this. It was the last flight of a very long travel day.”
‘She tapped a stranger’s shoulder, ‘Um, excuse me, sir.’ Without any pauses she said, ‘We need to make a game plan for you guys.’: Woman experiences unexpected kindness on flight, ‘We can do these things for other people’
‘I wonder what she would have thought of all the hoarding. That’s not how they did it back then. She made reusing aluminum foil fun.’: Woman worries about her generation, ‘We have a bold task ahead’
“I can remember my grandmother’s engaging and sometimes horrific stories of sacrifice. She could cook big feed the masses until all of our buttons burst. And she did this with a very limited fixed income. No part of a chicken roast was ever wasted.”
‘The nurse said the word ‘fetal demise’ and my heart stopped. I was disgusted with myself. ‘If you leave, we’ll call it an Against Medical Advice Discharge.’: Mom births NICU warrior amid pandemic
“They refused to allow my husband back upstairs after he got off work, saying my unit didn’t count as a maternity unit. He flipped out. I cried and hid in the dark for two days. I let my husband go. What kind of mother was I to put her life at risk? I finally understood what it meant to give up anything to keep my family safe.”
‘We are sick and tired of this and sick and tired of each other. And yet, I’m nowhere near ready to leave my cocoon.’: Woman urges ‘hold onto hope’ during pandemic
“If you’re anxious to move on, but terrified what that looks like. If you want nothing more than to resume life, but are worried it might be too soon. If you are craving guidance and direction, but feel lost and unseen. There is only one thing we can do.”
‘It’s not that bad, be grateful.’ Our pregnancies can’t be rescheduled. These are memories we will never get back.’: Expecting mom says ‘none of us asked for this, but we will all come out of this stronger’
“This is not the time to ‘suck it up.’ This is the time to own every feeling of weakness and uncertainty we have, and move forward in spite of it… together.”
‘I slid onto the floor as I heard the doctor speak. ‘Why do I have to have cancer again, Mama?’ Time seemed to freeze.’: Girl battles neuroblastoma, ‘Izzy continued to fight and the rest of the world just kept going’
“The call came just like it does in the movies. I sat in a rocking chair in her room and slid onto the floor as I heard the doctor speak. I stared at this little play clock. I can still see it so vividly — its tiny yellow hands stood still on its pink face. Time seemed to freeze in those moments. I would remember it as the day our life stopped.”
‘Our preschool abruptly closed. ‘I’ll see you every morning, right here.’ I had to regain my focus, if only for 30 minutes a day.’: Preschool teacher creates virtual safe space for students, ‘Whatever your gift is, beautify the world with it’
“A parent messaged me, ‘We were having a rough morning, and I insisted we all watch your circle time. It calmed us all down. Thank goodness for you!’ Each morning, I get up and gift my students a safe space, and they gift me back my world.”
‘You need to isolate immediately.’ The chances of survival for me are extremely low.’ : Woman with asthma, stage 4 endometriosis says, ‘I’ve been fighting my whole life, I don’t plan on stopping now’
“A doctor said, ‘Everyone is going to get this virus before it ends,’ and it terrifies me. I take medication on a daily basis just to breathe normally. My body is weak. I have so much left in life I want to see and do. I’ve been fighting my whole life, and I don’t plan on stopping now.”
‘Today my brother got married in the driveway of his home where a tornado ripped through in the middle of the night one year before.’: Woman says ‘love conquers through the darkness’
“Months ago, a tornado ripped through their home in the middle of one terrifing night. And there they stood. In front of that torn down, knocked apart, and REBUILT beautiful house. Today, I didn’t get to be there as a bridesmaid. My parents didn’t get to be there. They stood tall and fearless, saying their vows and promising forever.”
‘He can never leave the house.’ We have not seen our family or friends in over a year.’: Mom of severely immunocompromised son says ‘I am tired of headlines saying only the vulnerable will die’
“His doctors were hopeful we could take him out of the house for the first time EVER this summer. We could introduce him to his family members and friends. We could let him play on a playground, like a normal toddler. However, now our future is unknown again as the pandemic has erupted.”
