“Last night, I put up my Christmas tree and cried. It happens every year. For many, many years, I thought I hated Christmas. I’ve come to realize I don’t it. I hate the pressure of trying to hide my grief, for the comfort of others.”
‘Stop being sad, Heather. People would kill to have what you have.’ You cannot push grief away. It’s going to show it’s face, one way or another.’: Woman reminds us ‘joy and grief can co-exist, even during Christmas’
‘Little boys don’t need to ‘toughen up’ or stop crying. It’s OK if they’re not OK.’: Boy mom urges ‘vulnerability is a gift’
“They need to be comforted, nurtured, and told their feelings are valid.”
‘I don’t deserve it.’ That hate you have towards yourself? The harm you directly cause yourself? That’s on you.’: Woman talks ‘world of difference’ gratitude has made
“People will NOT feel sorry for you if you CHOOSE to beat yourself up.”
‘I thought I could sneak into the living room. She felt my absence. I heard her scared voice call out for me and begin to cry.’: Mom shares touching reminder, ‘He’s still here, He always will be’
“In the times we think He’s left us and we’re all alone because we can’t feel His presence, He’s still right there. He hears our cries, and He’s saying, ‘Sweet child, I’m right here. I haven’t left you.’ She didn’t know I was only feet away.”
‘She just listens to the ceiling fan spin. Her hurt and doubt soak her pillowcase with tears.’: Woman prays for others struggling with acceptance, ‘Dry her tears, God’
“When her head hits the pillow, her mind suddenly wakes up. And then, it gets really freaking mean. ‘Why aren’t you in better shape?’ it hisses in her head. ‘Your husband is aging better than you.’ By two, she’s exhausted from the thoughts, the Googling, and the tears.”
‘I went into my late wife’s inbox and found some humbling words she wrote about what I meant to her.’: Widower thanks late wife after finding lost emails, ‘You helped me all these years’
“I haven’t cried in quite some time. But tonight, I did. It was as if I could hear her voice, something I haven’t heard for so long.”
‘On the way into the house, he slipped and smashed his head onto the floor. ‘I cannot take this kid to the ER right now.’: Mom realizes ‘big feelings’ toddler is wrestling during quarantine
“My patience was pretty thin, and I snapped at him. What else did he want??? And then the tears kept coming. I took a longer look at that little pudgy boy in his pjs, crying over nothing. And I realized, more clearly than I have all week, that he’s not crying over nothing.”
‘This week I cried over potato chips. My husband asked what was wrong. As I said, ‘Nothing,’ I burst into tears. Big, wet, ugly, stupid, wracking sobs.’: Mom says ‘no matter how great or small our stress, we are all hurting’
“A little piece of me needed them. While my husband held me and let me sob out my disappointment over the lack of Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles, we both understood that it wasn’t really about the chips at all.”
‘As I sat on the toilet in tears, I heard a voice call to me. ‘Look out your window!’: Mom touched by sick neighbor’s act of kindness, ‘You’re not alone, even if you think you are’
“What you don’t know is that my neighbor has been battling COVID-19 for two weeks now. We knew this was potentially coming, but I didn’t expect it to hit so hard.”
‘As I was driving by, I saw a student sitting on the sidewalk with his laptop open. ‘Are you trying to do schoolwork?’ I had to turn around.’: Teacher says ‘have mercy on students, school may only be a small part of their struggle’
“Sitting on the ground outside of a Subway, he told me his dad does concrete work. His company has threatened to shut down, so having internet at home is not a priority right now. This young man is TRYING, but life is hard right now.”
