“We didn’t want to talk to him, and we said so. He responded aggressively. ‘Chill, I just wanted to see where you were going.’ Sara responded, ‘No. We are busy and don’t want to talk to you.’ He persisted. ‘You don’t look effing busy.’ In the middle of an upscale neighborhood, on a busy sidewalk, I was scared.”
‘A complete stranger came up to us. ‘Yo, what are you doing?’ He was a man, of course.’: Woman worried stranger ‘might have a gun,’ is ‘sick of being scared of men’
‘Go visit your high school friends. The ones who make your southern accent come back with one conversation.’: Woman insists high school friends are the ones who ‘help guide you back to your roots’
“They’re the ones who hold your best-kept secrets, and swear they’ll take them to their grave.”
‘Why did my parents break up anyway?’ It took me by surprise. I wanted to be honest.’: Stepmom caught off guard by stepdaughter’s ‘tough questions’ over dad’s relationship with ex
“I put my stepdaughter’s plate on the table. She looked at me. ‘Is being a stepmom really hard?’ All I could think was, ‘we don’t have enough time in the day.’ I braced myself for more. She sat for a minute, eating her eggs and fruit. I thought I was in the clear. Wrong. Here came the hardest question. ‘Why did my mom and dad break up?’ she asked. ‘Uhhhh… Uhhhh… Uhhhh…’ I couldn’t give her all the dirty details.”
‘I’m the ‘strong’ friend. Yet, I battle depression. Did you expect me to pull it together? I don’t work like that.’: Woman reminds us to ‘check on our strong friend,’ ‘she’s faking it’
“I’m the strong friend. I meet you for drinks when you’re facing disaster. I bring you dinner, flowers. I’m your sounding board. But you forgot to check on me. You ask me where I’ve been, you say I seem ‘off’ and that you miss my posts. You know what I heard? ‘Why aren’t you playing the role I need you to play?’ But I can’t play that role in life right now. I don’t have it in me.”
‘How was school?’ He sobbed, ‘My best friend doesn’t want to hang out anymore because I’m gay.’: Mom to LGBT son ‘in tears’ after local family ‘plant seed of fear,’ ‘this is why moms like me lose their kids’
“I wanted to pull over, crawl in the back seat, and hug him. ‘She said her family doesn’t hang out with gay people.’ Tears dripped through his little fingers. When we got home, he climbed into my lap like a small child. ‘I love you so much. If I could take the pain away, I would,’ I whispered. ‘I know,’ he whispered back, ‘But you can’t take away the gay.’ My heart shattered.”
‘When I send my daughter to school, it hurts. My heart skip beats. My cheeks are hot, tingly.’: Mom is ‘worried sick’ about daughter with disabilities being accepted at school
“I feel sick with worry because I am here, and she is there. Every single moment of every single day I see the potential behind my daughter’s beautiful brown eyes. My biggest fear is that others will not see the same things in her.”
‘I bought a rope and began to hang myself.’ I was living a fantasy of mine. I didn’t see myself living past 30.’: Young woman survives addiction, multiple suicide attempts, says suffering has been her ‘greatest teacher’
“I was addicted to the act of numbing myself from the anxiety. I was so desperately seeking attention outside myself, not knowing I needed to learn to give it to myself. I have tried everything in my power to end my life. And, guess what? Nothing worked. Hi, I am still here! Life has seasons, just like us. What’s a sunny day without the dark clouds and rain?”
‘You know what I love? Friends who don’t make this friend thing complicated.’: Woman ‘thankful’ for friends who ‘don’t set unrealistic expectations’ of her
“I won’t always be a phone call away. Sometimes, I leave my phone inside so it’s not a distraction. I won’t always be there the exact moment you need me. I really try, but sometimes I’m fighting my own demons. I won’t give you my undivided attention, but I’ll listen to you vent between pushing babies on swings. We may not be planning many girl’s nights or remembering to text each other back, but anytime you cross my mind, I’m thankful for you.”
‘Don’t move!’ He shot me a second time, and left. I sure wasn’t going to die without a fight.’: Woman attacked by ‘close knit’ EMT coworker suffering from PTSD is ‘thankful’ to still be here
“He texted me saying he was going to pop in to say, ‘Hi.’ I was laying on the floor watching TV when he entered. The next thing I knew, I was holding my head with my hands and screaming. I thought he had had a PTSD episode and shot me while thinking I was someone else. I crawled outside and knocked on the neighbor’s door. ‘Please call 911,’ I asked him.”
‘I no longer sit at tables where I might be the topic when I get up. I used to think that’s just how women are.’: Woman reminds us ‘worth’ can’t be ‘determined or negotiated’ by others
“If you’re sitting at the table where the topic of discussion is someone else’s shortcomings, mistakes, imperfections, flaws, or lawd the he said she said gossip, GIRL. GET A NEW TABLE. I assure you that when you leave your seat, you’re likely the next topic of conversation.”
