“By 27 years old we had 2 beautiful boys and a baby girl. We were married, living well and happy. I was baking cupcakes and going on field trips – I was exactly who I thought I should be. Then it happened.”
‘Nurses told me to ‘Not be so dramatic.’ I tried to get help from teachers, police officers, neighbors, but nobody listened. I cried, ‘He’s hurting me, help me!’ I was sent home the next morning.’
‘I married the man of my dreams, created a family, and realized after 9 years we weren’t able to pray the gay away.’
“He pulled me aside and told me he ‘struggled’ with homosexuality. My response: ‘Wow, you’re going to need a really strong wife!’ For the very first time, Kyle actually said out loud, ‘I am a gay man and I want to be with a man.’”
‘Once again, our child could kill my wife. The woman who is now carrying our 8th child, who has been through hell and always kept hope. I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m numb.’
“This feels like déjà vu. You’ll get over it, David. Don’t cry in front of all these strangers. I’ll just sit here, trying to keep my mind off the fact we just authorized a doctor to separate our child from their mother, and will likely put them in a bag labeled ‘biohazard waste.’”
‘Good job Mommy. You came just in time.’ I asked her why. She replied, ‘I didn’t want Addison to feel bad that I have two daddies, and she only has one.’
“‘Why would she feel bad?,’ I asked. It was in that moment, I knew I would never have to worry about Emma missing a piece of her heart. It never left her. Unlike her younger siblings, she has two daddies that love her. Her daddy here at home, and her daddy in heaven.”
‘I will always have my dad in Heaven. Will you be my father forever?’ My high school sweetheart was shot and killed at a party. I was left a single mom, lost without my best friend.’
“This man stepped up and took care of this amazing little boy when his daddy was taken from this world. Connor asked if he could ask Jonathan to adopt him. ‘Why do you want to do that?,’ I asked. ‘To make it official,’ he replied. ‘I want to surprise him.’”
‘I met him on a dating site. I was scared because you hear horror stories about creeps. Out of all the guys, Jimmy was the ONLY one who didn’t ask me. He changed my life completely.’
“28 years ago I was born with a spinal cord injury due to my doctor using forceps, and came out basically dead. Doctors told my parents I would be like a vegetable. But they were wrong. Then, I met Jimmy.”
‘There’s good news and there’s bad news,’ my dad told me. ‘The good news is they found out what’s wrong with Mom.’ I didn’t know how much longer I could hang on.’
“After 2 years of troubling behavior with my mom, and doctors assuring us there was nothing wrong, we finally had concrete answers. Dad’s voice caught in his throat and tears welled in his eyes. He said the word we most feared.”
‘Let’s hear it for the dads. The ones who don’t ‘babysit’ – they parent. The ones who come home from work, ready to pitch in.’
“The ones who cook breakfast on the weekends and make blanket forts like a boss. The ones who rock a diaper bag, and a minivan, and still look hot. The ones who remind us we were people, before we were mothers.”
‘When would you like to terminate?,’ she asked. ‘NO. We are his parents.’ My husband and I had just been hit with such horrifying news.’
“I was reading the last of my family’s texts full of love and support before getting wheeled back to surgery. I thought, ‘Here goes nothing.’ I took a deep breath, and the room was suddenly very quiet.”
‘One of my NYPD officers comes in. ‘Hey Lieu, you’re a single guy. Why don’t you try TINDER?’ I looked at him and literally laughed out loud.’
“Three months prior to our wedding, my son went on vacation with his biological mother. Unbeknownst to us, her plan was to never return. We got the message that crushed us to the core. As I sat with my head buried in my hands, my wife gave me the strength I never knew I had.”
