“Imagine you’re a black author. You’ve written one of your best works about fatherhood. You’re super excited to get it published, only to receive a rejection letter targetting the color of your black protagonist.”

‘I received a rejection letter that read, ‘African American ‘fathers’ is such a tough sell. Your project will not be a good fit.’: Author denied book publishing due to ‘black protagonist’

‘I’m sorry I was so difficult.’ I grabbed his hand. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’ He hung his head. ‘Yes ma’am.’: Adopted son apologies for his trauma-fueled behavior, ‘He doesn’t see how brave he is’
“He found his old journal. ‘I threw it away. It made me sad to see who I was when I came to you.’ Both our eyes filled with tears. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know how to trust me.’ He slayed my heart, thanking me for dinner on a random Tuesday night. ‘I’m just so thankful I will have a meal each night,’ he said. I couldn’t even lift my head to look him in the eyes. He became worried he’d said something wrong.”

‘We thought we had reached an agreement. My daughter would live with her dad. But I had no idea how hard they would make it. It was insane.’
“I felt strongly prompted to let her live with her dad. At first I ignored it. That was the worst thing I could ever imagine, and I would NEVER let it happen. Now she’s gone.”

‘School is hard for my daughter who has never made less than an ‘A.’ She practices and prints off extra homework. The thought of failure invokes panic in her busy little mind.’
“I have one child who has brought home a handful of awards year after year, and another who faithfully collects his lone participation certificate. His best will never look like scholar of the year. But success looks different on every child.”

‘I’m sorry when you want to have sex, I just want 10 minutes alone. I’m sorry you’re always questioning what happened to the girl you fell in love with.’: Wife who is ‘tired, hardworking, exhausted’ pens letter to husband
“I wish we could still be this much in love, this touchy feely, this happy, but we aren’t. I wish I could tell you things will change, but I can’t.”

Your blood pressure is 4,000 over 80 (I’m not a doctor ok, it’s just really HIGH) and someone says, ‘Good job Momma,’ while some other butthead says, ‘Why do we applaud mediocre parenting?’
“Are you FOR REAL?”

‘I smiled, kissed her and said, ‘I love you.’ That’s the last time I saw Dana. The next morning, she died instantly.’
“Society believes that once you fall in love again you have moved on and replaced the one that has died. This is such a fallacy.”

‘I gave him a letter today as he left for college. I never could’ve predicted how hard that drive away would be.’
“I decided to write Peyton a letter before he left. I needed to get out all of the things I wanted to say to him – the good and the bad. I’m sorry we took the easy way out. I wish we would have fought harder for you.”

‘We were two hurting people, hurting each other. We spent 2 years in therapy, weekly. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed.’
“I wasn’t about to tell anyone how difficult married life was. It certainly wasn’t what I hoped, imagined, or dreamt it would be. I was so lonely.”

‘For Every One Thing I Imagined Motherhood To Be, There Are Ten Things I Never Saw Coming.’
“There are moments that are so beautiful they take your breath away, and moments that are so difficult that they do the very same thing.”