“She was someone who had been at family events and had been around my child. I had just run into her earlier that week. My heart sank. I was forced to move out of my home and become a single mom. After I finally stopped fighting for a life that was never meant to be, I met Ryan. The moment I got in his truck, I knew. ‘If you want to date me, you have to date my daughter.’ I was tough. I shared the good, the bad, and the ugly, but he choose to stay. Through it all, without a question, he chose me. And he chose my daughter, too.”
‘I received a call at work. ‘I saw your boyfriend with another woman.’ She was someone I knew, married, with kids of her own.’: Woman marries dream man after infidelity, separation, ‘He is proof everything happens for a reason!’
‘I put my husband on the backburner. Sex became a chore. We were roommates who co-parented. Our marriage lost its spark.’: Woman candidly shares lessons she learned from divorce
“Every time he touched me, I cringed. I was so busy and obsessed with being a first-time mom, my son came first in every situation. We stopped going on dates, sex was non-existent. He sat me down and told me his needs. I brushed it off. After all, I’d just birthed a newborn! The last thing I wanted to do was have sex. Time went on and his needs went unfulfilled. Eventually, we became strangers who lived together.”
‘It’s been 6 months since my husband and I filed for divorce. I pass off my kids to him every other week, for the entire week.’: Woman claims divorce has made her a ‘better’ mom, ‘I’ve learned to cherish each moment’
“The first time I dropped my daughter off at ballet for her father to pick her up after her class, I remember bawling my eyes out in the car, regretting my decision to divorce. I came home to a big, empty house and sat on the couch, just wailing. As a mother, I’m programmed to tend to my children, but without them, what was I to do with my days? Divorce has forced me to step up as a mother. I have no other choice.”
‘I invited my husband’s ex-wife to my wedding. In our family, we’re not ‘half’ or ‘step.’ We’re just family.’: Mom and stepmom come together to peacefully co-parent after feud, ‘women should always support each other’
“As I was falling in love with him and his daughter, he and his wife were getting a divorce. We were both young, immature, and jealous. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Hurtful words were thrown around for years. One day, we decided to meet up and talk. ‘Can you meet me at the coffee shop?’ That was the day two women came together in vulnerability.”
‘To my ex-husband’s family, you didn’t have to continue loving me, my new husband, and child. But you do.’: Woman pens emotional letter to ‘compassionate’ in-laws, ‘you’ve turned an unfortunate circumstance into something beautiful’
“I was married before, to a man that needed to be rescued and saved. I realized in marriage that I’m no lifeguard. I could only rescue myself and my beautiful kids, and I did just that. I divorced. My in-laws, the first time you welcomed all of us into your homes I watched, mesmerized, as my new husband stood next to your family, enjoying each other’s company. It was a simple moment, but it took my breath away.”
‘This is my second wedding dress. My second bouquet. I’m not ashamed. Truth is, divorce gave me my life back.’: Woman gets ‘second chance at love,’ admits second wedding is ‘more of a marriage than the first’
“I don’t talk about my first wedding often. Never actually. After my divorce, there were months I struggled to get out of bed. There was pain and suffering. Rage. So much rage. This was my second wedding dress, but this heart? It’s renewed. This is my redeptiom.”
‘My marriage reared it’s ugly head. I was at a fork in the road. I could leave and save myself heartbreak, or I could stay.’: Woman finds ‘strength’ to divorce abusive husband, admits there’s ‘beauty in vulnerability’
“I never planned on writing my story. While I was more fearful of the future than I care to admit, I remember leaving the courthouse the day I filed for divorce feeling like I could breathe for the first time in years. It was the feeling of freedom. For years, I allowed the world to wash over me, resigned to the lies I’d been told about who I was, who I wasn’t, and who I could never be. On the hard days, I have to remind myself to call these thoughts what they are: lies.”
‘To the girl in love with an addict, his failures are not your failures. His demons are not your demons.’: Mom comes to terms with husband’s addiction, advises addict spouses to ‘hang in there’
“To the girl in love with an addict, I saw you sit in your car alone at halftime and breakdown. I see you and your fake smile. Don’t worry, they all still believe you’re fine. You’ve gotten so good at crying hard, getting it all out fast, and getting back to your seat before anyone even realizes you’re gone. Please don’t let him make you think his addiction is your fault. This has nothing to do with you at all. You deserve better than this.”
‘Receipts for bars, motels showed up on MY credit card. I demanded he show me his texts.’: Woman gets huge wake-up call after husband leaves for ‘work’
“‘You’re not going to like it.’ Shaking and my heart pounding, I scrolled through comments. ‘I miss you.’ ‘What are you wearing?’ ‘When do I get to see you again?’ I don’t know how it started. I never questioned my decision. I never considered staying to work it out.”
‘Here we go.’ We started the process of reversing his vasectomy. My husband had no intention of having more children.’: Couple shares adventure of trying-to-conceive after doctor says they have ‘no answers’
“I told Jeremy, ‘We need to talk.’ I was so nervous my voice trembled. I told him, ‘A few days ago I took a pregnancy test. It was positive.’ He gasped and immediately smiled. I continued, ‘but after getting my blood work repeated, my levels are not increasing. I started bleeding on the drive down.’ His smile quickly turned to confusion. ‘So you weren’t pregnant?’ He couldn’t understand how something could begin and end all so quickly.”
