“I had just gotten ‘the phone call’ no parent ever wants to get. I flew out the door, not knowing what happened, how bad it was, or even if my son was alive. Josh had been on his way home from work when a car made a right turn in front of him. It happened so fast. I tried to prepare myself for when I saw him. When he spoke, it wasn’t his voice. ‘Who is he?’ He was only 21 years old. He was in and out of consciousness. I felt nauseous.”
‘Get to the ER! Now!’ was all my husband blurted out. My son lay crumpled on the side of a road.’: Man makes miracle recovery after motorcycle accident, ‘It’s a blessing to have him back’
‘My fingertips gripped the vinyl. It felt like ‘hot rubber band snaps.’ My mom had to hold me down. For a child who doesn’t understand, it’s torture.’: Woman with port wine stain advocates for ‘torture’ pain control, ‘It felt like hot needles into my brain.’
“As we walked toward the doctor’s office, the fear made my body cold. I would feel my anxiety bubbling up, making it harder to breathe. I wanted to pull away from my mom. Stop getting closer. I became aware infants and children are still treated without any pain control. ‘They just swaddle them and do the treatment really fast,’ I was told. Babies? How could anyone do this? ‘It doesn’t really hurt.’ Reading this made me want to vomit. The memories of the pain and being held down is so visceral for me.”
‘Mom. I need to talk to you.’ She looked concerned. ‘What’s wrong?’ I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I am a grown woman.’: Young widow scared to tell mom she’s dating again, ‘I severely underestimated my own mom’
“I wanted to cry and vomit at the same time. Here I am, a 33-year-old woman, terrified to tell my mom I am dating. I mean, c’mon?! ‘I may have met someone.’ She looked at me surprised and asked, ‘How? And when?’ I told her I’d signed up for dating apps and that my friends had been keeping tabs on me. To top it off, I live in my parent’s house and those feelings of that 16-year-old girl came back. Keeping secrets, sneaking out to see boys, saying, I’m ‘going to see friends.’”
‘Would you change things?’ I answer without hesitation, ‘No.’ We looked like a happy couple, but we both knew it was over.’: Super Dad is single father to 3 kids, ‘I’ve learned how to literally be 2 people at the same time.’
“It seems like I’m just a cool dad having fun while his wife is at work. But that’s not the case. We looked like a happy couple. You’d never know I was sleeping in my children’s playroom on a futon. I remember my mentor being honest with me, ‘You are an African American male in Texas, serving in the military. It’s highly unlikely you’ll get primary custody of your kids.’ I joined the 15 percent of single dads around the world that have primary custody of their kids. Now, I’m a full-time father of the 3 most resilient kids I know.”
‘This child will be a burden to you.’ Her chocolate eyes shot through my screen. ‘Oh, crap.’ A feeling washed over. ‘There you are, my child.’: Woman adopts girl with spina bifida, epilepsy
“A feeling washed over me. The exact same wave that washed over when they placed my biological children on my chest in the delivery room. ‘There you are, my child.’ Stroking my cheek, I felt her 28 pounds snuggle into mine. ‘Mommy, I’m so glad you found me in Armenia. I missed you even when I didn’t know you.’ She fed my soul, and she doesn’t even know it.”
‘He glared at me. ‘I didn’t lie to you.’ Ben wasn’t supposed to drink on his medications. ‘He has a gun!’ We heard a single shot.’: 24-year-old wife loses husband to suicide, ‘One breath at a time, you get through it’
“Ben was the type of guy who had a specific place for his shoes, wallet, and keys. When I came home from a 12-hour shift in the ER, my husband didn’t greet me like normal. I found his shoes randomly strewn across the kitchen, his clothes heaped in a pile. He was lying atop all the covers on our bed. ‘Are you okay?’ No response. ‘Babe? Did you spill some water in the bathroom?’ He became enraged. I called my mom and began to pack an overnight bag. My mom had been on the phone with me and was hearing all of it. She hung up and called the police.”
‘I’m the last person you’d imagine to be struggling with Kobe’s death today. Why is this white, rural mom so distraught?’: Mom relates to Kobe Bryant as a father, ‘he had to remain calm in the last moments of his daughter’s life’
“The most horrifying part is he had to remain calm in the last moments of his daughter’s life as his own fears were flashing. That’s the part that keeps coming back to my mind. I can’t imagine the selflessness those parents were exhibiting in those last moments. And, while it is reassuring that he was there to hold his daughter, to whom he was a hero, it is still so unsettling to imagine being with your child for their last breath.”
‘I’d hold my breasts in each hand. ‘Who would I be without these?’: Woman opens up about her journey to self-love, ‘My body wasn’t a temple. I definitely didn’t treat it like one.’
“I used to get changed in P.E. and look at all the other girls around me. My hips were wider, my legs were thicker, and my stomach had a ‘flab’ to it. I was already in a C cup by the time I turned 12. I couldn’t bear being naked in front of my boyfriend. I would wear baggy t-shirts during sex, and he wasn’t allowed to see my boobs without a bra–I had forbidden that! My ex-boyfriends would tell me if I just lost weight, I’d be ‘unreal.’”
‘I just want to let you know, Mommy is… the baby is probably no longer viable.’: Journalist brings 12-year-old daughter into restroom during miscarriage
“Mommy doesn’t feel any guilt. This is normal, it happens to so many women, it’s happened to me a few other times,” she said after pulling her 12-year-old daughter into the bathroom during her miscarriage. “When you get pregnant, it might happen to you, honey. And I want you to know there’s nothing you did wrong.”
‘When you woke up this morning, was it business as usual? For most of us, I’m sure it was.’: Woman reminds others to ‘tread lightly’ because you never know what others have ‘lost’ in wake of Kobe Bryant death
“But, for some, it wasn’t, and it won’t be for a while. And for those, I pray. After my dad passed, everything was a struggle. I’d get dressed and wonder why. I’d go to put my makeup on and feel like a self-obsessed idiot. What was the point of wearing mascara? How could I care how I look at a time like this? I was a fragile shell of the girl I was just days before. You can do better.”
