“I was told, ‘Your parents gave you away because they didn’t want you.’ I was devastated and began a mental game of ‘Who Could Be My Birth Mother?’ Everywhere I went, I looked to see who I might resemble. I analyzed the features of celebrities and passing strangers. Every birthday, I wondered if she was thinking about me, too.”
‘The phone rang. I thought to myself, ‘That’s her! It has to be her.’ Tears flooded my eyes. Her next words lit up my entire life. ‘I’m so glad you found me,’ she said.’
‘I went to see my OBGYN, cried over an evil man being the baby’s father, and screamed about my sobriety. She calmly sat next to my hospital bed, and handed me the ultrasound pictures.’
“Written in small white letters was, ‘HI MOMMY I’M BABY A.’ I moved onto the next picture. ‘HI MOMMY I’M BABY B.’ I laid my hands down and shook my head. My eyes landed on the next picture. ‘HI MOMMY I’M BABY C.’ The blood rushed to my head.”
‘Inside I was screaming, ‘I am your aunt!’ We waited in the school office. One by one, our kids walked into the room. We didn’t have a plan, but I knew my suspicions were right.’
“We spent the rest of that night carrying people out, and sending them to the emergency room. I said to myself, ‘I shouldn’t be here. I have children.’ I called my husband, worried about what he would say. My palms were sweating. ‘Go get your kids,’ he responded.”
‘I woke up to find a note on the dining room table. My world paused in that moment. That tiny note was the very first time I saw his handwriting in the 18 years I had known him.’
“Life moved on. He was never far from my mind but he no longer made his way into my life. Then one day he phoned me.”
‘Every couple has fought on the way to a party, only to step out of the car smiling. We post pictures of our kids melting down, but never share photos crying after an ugly argument.’
“We have a wonderful marriage. But we also have bad days where I dread the sound of his car pulling into the garage. When I’m really mad, I imagine what my life would look like as a single mom. This is normal. It’s OK.”
‘This typing… is Tyler. I am the junkie of our family. My mom and I were best friends. Then addiction struck.’
“I know how much Ty loves me. I got up and held him for a long time. That was 2 days ago. Today he is high again, and today we start all over.”
‘Every day she tags me in stuff on Facebook. Every day. Like several times a day.’
“I try to make a point of acknowledging it. So often I come home to a ‘Did you see that thing I tagged you in?'”
’25 days before the one-year anniversary of my husband’s death, a Facebook memory popped up’
“It slams you back to a time when you knew what was important, and what wasn’t.”
DISTURBING: ‘Want to freak yourself out? I’m gonna show how much of your information is stored without you even realizing it’
This includes tracking where you are, what apps you have installed, access to your webcam and microphone, your contacts, e-mails, calendar, call history, the messages you send and receive…
‘Parents of the world, WAKE. UP. Your kids are living in a world that you are not invited to be part of. And they know how to keep you out.’
“Today I asked my classes to finish this sentence: ‘What my parents don’t know about social media is…'”