“I let bitterness sink in, and I was always ready to battle. We started new careers, had beautiful babies, and traveled, but we were too busy to realize we hadn’t dealt with our need to heal.”
‘Why did I go through this?’ I realized the hardest work starts after the addiction, not during.’: Wife of a former addict writes her way to healing and forgiveness
‘Let your daughter see you take time for yourself—because once she sees you’re worth it, she’ll grow up knowing she’s worth it, too.’: Mom shares tips for raising a strong daughter
“Let your daughter hear you stick up for yourself, never accept disrespect. Let your daughter see you reach out your hand to another woman, pulling her up until she’s steady enough to stand on her own.”
‘Do you JUST stay home with the kids?’ Society has this idea that we’re living the dream in pajamas, snuggled up on the couch all day.’: Stay-at-home mom urges ‘Mama, don’t forget to take care of yourself’
“Mama, I see you. I see how selfless you’ve become. I see how you feel you’ve lost your identity. I see how you’d kill for a warm bubble bath and glass of wine in peace. Mama, me too. I’m so glad we’re not in this alone.”
‘My 2-week-old infant in my arms, I discovered my husband was having an affair with a close friend. All I could mutter was, ‘I’m going to die,’ over and over again.’: Woman navigates marital infidelity, addiction, ‘I am living proof it gets better’
“I told my therapist, ‘We sit on opposite sofas in the living room, but I feel like we’re on opposite planets. There’s no intimacy, no passion.’ I chalked it up to being newlyweds while he battled multiple addictions behind closed doors. When I discovered the messages, I screenshotted them, planning to present them in divorce court.”
‘I KNOW timeouts don’t work. But my four-year-old has been chanting, for all the neighbors to hear, ‘Meany-head mommy.’: Mom urges ‘grace, even when we least deserve it’
“I know what you’re thinking. She’s four. You’re thirty-four. Why would you even have to control yourself. I put my four-year-old in timeout on the patio, and she’s been chanting for over five minutes.”
‘Why do they love her when I’m here?’ For 6 years, I wanted to hate her. But I loved them.’: Adoptive mom shares relationship with kids’ birth mom, ‘Love can accomplish great things’
“I knew she’d self-medicated for years. My first message to her was anonymous. ‘My name is Jane, and we love the same kiddos.’ She was defensive, expecting a trap.”
‘I found pictures. ‘You can leave now.’ They went to cut off the ‘mother’ bracelet. We prayed for a miracle.’: Woman describes adoption scam, ‘We are trusting in God’
“I asked if she thought she was for sure going to give her child to us, and she hesitated. ‘Come quickly!’ Things were going fast, and she didn’t want us to miss it. ‘She wants you to meet the baby.’ I stood outside the room bawling in my husband’s arms.”
‘My ex remarried and had 3 kids. Believe it or not, we all went to Disney World together. God and Zoloft kept me going.’: Woman shares co-parenting journey, ‘We’re all on board!’
“It had been ‘coming’ in a sense for a couple of years. I was pregnant with our second child when it all went down. We had to put all emotions aside.”
‘I desperately tried to hide what was going on from the well-off families. Parents sensed something. Kids were no longer allowed at my house.’: Woman details candid reality of growing up with a drug-addicted parent
“I never got the chance to say goodbye, to tell her that I forgave her. She wasn’t always this way. Reading her journal entries brought me closer to her than I ever thought possible.”
‘The manager said, ‘Could you please re-tell me your card number?’ I thought about the disrespect I’d seen this past week.’: Mom advocates for kindness after post office visit
“I was in my local post office sending a package. I realized our soup was missing. USPS. I think I’ll survive without mail for a few days.”
