“He took everything he could, and walked away like we were nothing. He used my daughter to get closer to me. I no longer understood ‘normal.’ Life had to resume, because he said so. I was a widow.”
‘My daughter cried over a man I allowed into her life. It was one of my lowest points. I trusted too easily.’: Widow shares grief journey and destructive relationship, ‘I am enough’
‘We ALWAYS stop at the toy aisle. People think I’m crazy, asking my 1-year-old if we should buy stuff. But I don’t care.’: Woman says daughter is her best friend, ‘It’s the greatest gift’
“We share lunches and cheers our drinks. We play everything, peek a boo, house, chase, and it’s the highlight of my day. I love waking up every morning, knowing she’s right next to me. I’m not ashamed to admit that she’s my best friend.”
‘Another baby wasn’t worth losing my life. My hope of a large family wasn’t happening. ‘Do you want us to adopt you?’: Mom adopts family friend at 54, ‘We needed her to fulfill our family’
“Before we could blink, we had teenagers and a daughter in college. I know people in their forties adopt, but my husband was not on board. We met Rachel when she was five. She had a background of neglect and abuse. I officially became a new mama at 54.”
‘She’s the kid you see biting her parents. You think, ‘Thank god she’s not mine.’ I would not purchase again.’ Mom ‘salutes’ parents with ‘feral’ children
“When you tell her to stop running, she hears, ‘Run faster, knock down a shelf of sanitary pads, and bounce into someone with a drink spilling it all over them.’ I try, I do. She’s just the Blair witch.”
‘When the doctor screamed, ‘It’s a girl!’ I pictured ribbons, bows, and princess movies. Having a daughter is nothing like I thought it would be.’: Girl mom urges ‘it is so very much more’
“It’s repeating her worth to her, over and over (and over) again. It’s reassuring her she is capable, even when others diminish her because she’s ‘a girl.’ It’s reminding her that her body is a vessel to be loved, respected, and adored, not abused.”
‘I feel like Mufasa walking in the produce aisle. I’m always flattening out my curls. ‘We can both be beautiful together!’: Daughter inspires mom to embrace her curls, ‘I have to love my actual, physical self’
“’Mommy! Your hair is curly like MINE?’ My hair was drying naturally and had curled up a little bit. ‘Yes, my hair looks like yours before I…’ I almost said, ‘Fix it.’”
‘I’ve been looking for you my whole life, Papa, and now I get TWO dads for the price of one!!’ I welcomed her with open arms.’: Man discovers daughter after ‘life-changing’ DNA test, ‘She is so incredibly beautiful, inside and out!’
“A few weeks into quarantine, I received a message from a young woman. ‘I am your daughter and I have been looking for you my whole life!!!’ WHAT?!?! I’m a gay man and my husband and I have been together almost 20 years. She said, ‘I understand if you need some time. I’m an adult and don’t need anything. I just want to know my dad.'”
‘We are past time for you to call family. Your dad is not going to make it.’ ‘He was fine yesterday. What do you mean he is not going to make it?’: Woman who lost parents to bile duct cancer writes tribute to father, ‘He was my best bud’
“He was moaning and groaning. I asked everyone in the room what had happened and what was going on. The head nurse shared that my Dad awoke around 3 a.m. in excruciating pain. That one instance led to my dad’s demise. And it was all my fault. That is what the enemy wanted me to believe.”
‘Mom, why are you keeping a homework assignment?’ I had to sit facing her. I wanted her to know I wasn’t afraid.’ Mom shares grief journey after losing daughter to cancer, ‘We’re going to be okay’
“We walk in the room, and stand quietly. I start to cry. Well, that was fast. One outfit sends you spinning into a memory. We had stopped at a light and flagged down a police officer to escort us. She was bleeding everywhere. The outfit was ruined.”
‘She told my foster dad, ‘It’s either THEM. Or it’s ME. Pick.’ He stuffed our clothes into trash bags and dropped us off at CPS.’: Woman finds forever father after abandoned by foster dad, ‘He chose to love ME’
“When I was 5, I woke up one morning and noticed no one was home. Soon, I heard a knock at the door. The police sat us down. ‘Your mother and step-father have passed.’ Now, here we were, put back into the system. Off to more foster homes. ‘I don’t want them,’ he told CPS. I’ll forever be thankful for the man who gave me a chance. He was young. He had never met me. But he chose ME.”
