“Clearly, I was not mentally prepared to grocery shop this morning. Something wasn’t right. The drive was short and quiet. I quickly got out of my car with everything I needed. Really, it was an Aldi shopping success…. until I reached the bagging counter. That’s when it struck me, why I was so off. For the first time in 9 years, I was missing my partner.”
‘Oh my Gosh! I’m crying in Aldi’s! Please judgy cashier, keep walking past. Screw these bags.’: Mom caught off guard, brought to tears in grocery store after realizing she was ‘missing my partner’
‘I had a hard time clothing her. I was sure I’d break her neck.’: New mom recalls ‘mean, vicious cold days’ in throes of postpartum anxiety
“I had been placed in a small, windowless hospital room that was 80 degrees. I was rotating between sweating because I was warm to shivering from having cold sweats. The medicines from labor were messing with me. I tried to keep it together but whenever a nurse left my room, I burst out crying. There was so much paperwork to fill out. I was alone.”
‘I am older than he was when he died. There is nothing more unnatural. He is suspended in time at 45.’: Wife’s emotional reason for not wanting to celebrate birthdays after husband’s death to cancer
“The first birthday I spent with my husband, I turned 16. I remember where we went, what I was wearing. It was the first time he really held my hand. There was something magical about it. It was fall. We were coming out of a hot summer, the night air was cool. There was nobody else I wanted to spend it with than him. The last birthday I spent with him was my 43rd. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. Nothing has been the same since.”
‘That’s stupid! EVERYONE in my class has that.’ She threw it in the trash and slammed the door.’: Mom teaches daughter ‘tough love lesson’ on being grateful
“WHAT. COME AGAIN? I went to 3 different stores to get that popular L.O.L. Surprise! pencil box. I thought I taught her to be grateful, but apparently sis needed a small wake up call. Before going completely Madea mad on my child, I checked myself. ‘Okay, that’s fine. Let me get the pencil box you’re going to use.’ I came back with a good ol’ Ziploc bag. She lost her mind.”
‘If I could flick a switch and turn it off, I would,’ my son said. We cried that night, sitting in a restaurant. When he later announced his engagement to a man, I came to a crossroad.’
“He knew I was a woman of faith and that there were plenty in the church who believed it was wrong, including the man I was married to. ‘Mom, I want you to open this.’ Soon after, I realized this was no choice.”
‘I was face to face with a mama sobbing in the driver’s seat. She was crying the cry where your chest shakes, head in hands, and big tears fall heavy. I could tell she was embarrassed.’
“I walked out of my gym. Our eyes locked and she immediately looked panicked. I paused because I didn’t want to interrupt her intimate moment.”
‘My son’s teacher recently friended me on social media. I came upon a picture of her holding a chalkboard sign that read, ‘I said YES!’ She’s already married, so it struck me as odd.’: Mom thanks ‘hero’ teachers
“Until I read the caption. I couldn’t stop crying.”
‘Why are you wearing a T-shirt?,’ I asked when I picked her up. ‘I had to put something on because I need privacy.’ She started bawling.’
“‘Yeah, it will be nice out, you can wear a dress.’ It didn’t occur to me an adult would look at my 5-year-old child and think wearing a dress was inappropriate. She was told she needed to leave class and go to the nurse’s office. The nurse told her, ‘She needed to cover her body.'”
‘I will never forget the phone call. I couldn’t bring myself to answer. My heart was being torn from my chest. It was a friend, expressing her sorrow over my loss.’
“By sobbing uncontrollably, she did just that.”
‘There’s only one of me!,’ you scream. It’s okay to lose it. It’s okay to scream into a pillow. It doesn’t mean you’ve lost. Or you’ve failed. You feel like a bad mother.’
“The day you want them to nap, is the day they’ll be jump on couches. The day you’re going to clean is the day they’re going to throw toys, ask for millions of snacks and draw on walls. The day you have an appointment is the day they sleep in.”
