“The first day he came home, we got pregnant. We’d been apart for 3 months straight – can you really blame us? The sun was just coming up. We were packing our car for the airport to say our goodbyes. I woke up feeling nauseous, so I took a pregnancy test. I immediately felt lightheaded and fell on my cold bathroom floor, bawling. Hayden sat next to me, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What do you want to do? It’s going to be okay.’ Before I knew it, Hayden was gone and I was on my way back home, alone.”
‘What the heck, I’m not ready. I wasn’t expecting this.’ Everything we knew had taken a sudden shift.’: 20-year-old gets positive pregnancy test same day as husband’s deployment, ‘I couldn’t handle going through it alone’
‘Time’s Up!’ The words cut me like a knife. I watched as he left. ‘I Love You,’ he mouthed. Then he was gone.’: Military couple’s whirlwind romance through training, deployments, ‘I’m proud to stand by his side as he serves our country’
“Deployment day arrived. As I hugged him, the cool metal of his dog tags pressed against my cheek. I said through tears, ‘You better come back safely to me!’ before he climbed onto the big plane to take him away. He looked me right in the eyes. ‘I will baby.’ He said, ‘Life is too short, let’s get married.’ He was serious. I don’t know what he saw over there. I have never asked. We married 3 days after his return.”
‘It can’t be him. My life can’t go on without him.’ It was 10 days before his return from deployment.’: Marine wife mourns fallen hero fiancé on what would’ve been their wedding day, ‘I will stay strong for you, carry on your legacy’
“I remember every text I sent him that day, with no reply. I’ll never forget the terrible gut feeling I had when I found out 3 American soldiers had been killed. It was windy and the trees were blowing, as if Ben was giving me a sign. ‘It can’t be him, it’s finally our turn.’ I remember trying to go to sleep that night, but was tossing and turning. And then came the pounding on the door at 1 a.m.”
‘I adopted a deployed soldier. I knew he’d be my husband. People thought we were nuts.’: 10 months after ‘random selection’ pairing online, couple says ‘I do’ after emotional military homecoming
“I signed up through a website where you ‘adopt’ someone who is deployed. I figured, ‘Why not help someone serving their country?’ We exchanged a few emails. Just small talk. As the days got closer to meeting him in person, I got nervous. I was hours away from meeting my potential husband. My heart just knew.”
‘Why do my kids not want to talk to me?’ My mom replied, ‘You have nothing to do with them, why would they?’: 18-year-old adopted by uncle’s best friend, the ‘most selfless’ man she knows
“I met my adoptive dad while my bio dad and mom were still together. He was my uncle’s best friend. At 18, I made a board that asked, ‘Will you adopt me?’ He hugged me and cried. ‘Let’s get the paperwork started,’ he said without hesitation.”
‘This is it.’ I took a deep breath, answered the phone, my heart racing. ‘She is heading to the hospital in labor now.’ We couldn’t believe it, OUR SON. That is what SHE called him.’
“‘You’re lucky you CAN’T have kids,’ a stressed out mother once told me. I was floored. I held my son for hours crying tears of joy. I remember telling my husband, ‘It’s all over. I feel like I can breathe again. This weight I carried for years has been lifted.’”
‘Here.’ Our social worker opened her back door to an 11-pound baby. My eyes locked on hers. ‘There you are.’: Foster mom gains custody of little girl after 2 years of raising her, ‘our family is finally complete’
“‘Don’t get too attached. This is only for the month,’ our social worker warned. ‘I know.’ My brain knew that truth, my heart just didn’t care. ‘I know I’m not who you’re looking for.’ She blinked up at me, so light and frail. ‘But I’ll be here every time you look for me, okay?’ She was malnourished and tested positive for drugs. I was already attached because she needed me to be.”
‘I kept my pregnancy a secret. I knew coming home from the war would be tough, but I expected him to be a better father. He started drinking and blaming me.’
“I was working full time, coming home to a 2-year-old, while his dad played video games. My initial thought was ‘How??’ I saved the test to show their father. But that never happened. So I sent him a message. Straight to the point. ‘I’m pregnant.’ He packed all of his stuff, and was just gone.”
‘Behind closed doors, I was called ‘crazy’ and ‘too sensitive.’ We lived like roommates that slept together. I tried leaving. He promised to change, and he did, until I got pregnant again.’
“Into my life walks a man I knew since he got sober 4 years earlier. He and his girlfriend had recently broken up. I know my kids are watching us. Our children are always watching.”
‘He’d hit me in his sleep, blackout while driving on the highway and scream. ‘If you don’t get help, I’ll take our baby and leave.’: Woman’s husband suffers from PTSD, traumatic brain injury post-military, ‘never gives up’ on their love
“After the military, he slowed down to a ‘desk’ job. His brain would wander and he’d start having flashbacks. He was trying to find his place in the world, but couldn’t. What they don’t tell you about being the wife of someone with PTSD is that it’s like losing the person you fell in love with, and not being able to mourn. That person is gone. The mistake I made so much in the beginning was trying to force him to be who he was instead of just loving who he is.”
