“I’ve gained some weight, my eyebrows are shaggy, and I’ve got a couple of chin hairs. And I won’t apologize for it.”
‘I was told recently that I had ‘let myself go.’ I gave birth 18 months ago. My body is not an apology.’: Mom responds to body shamers, ‘Wear the sweatpants and the yoga pants and let yourself go!’
‘I cried at Walmart this morning and wiped away tears as I stared at all the empty shelves. This is the most comfort I’ve felt in a while.’: Woman says ‘this virus has done very ugly things, but it has also brought us together’
“The board games are gone because families are playing together. Paint is wiped out because people are creatively expressing themselves. Children’s books are missing because parents and siblings are reading to each other. Around 5:00 p.m. EVERY evening, the driveways down my street are full of families and their kids playing in the yard.”
‘We’ve been locked in our apartment for weeks. We are at peace in the epicenter of the virus.’: Woman shares positives from quarantine in Wuhan, ‘Fear and worry have no seat at our table’
“We have bonded with and supported each other in ways I’ve never experienced in my 9 years of living here. This is a bond that may lessen when our world gets back to normal, but for now I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
‘We get a hotel, and we lay down a lot. After putting on comfy clothes and taking bras off of course.’: Mom urges other women to ‘take the girls’ trip to enjoy the ‘simple things’ like ‘naps in the middle of the day
“Take the girls trip. Vacationing with other moms is the best. We fall asleep at 8:30 p.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. because our kids messed us up that way. We don’t judge if someone had to FaceTime their kids loudly and we laugh hilariously when those kids get in a fight we get to hang. Up. The. Phone. And let our husbands deal with it.”
‘We lost our precious Amie. We knew surgery was coming. She was in the best hands. Try as he might, we lost her.’: Mom’s emotional journey to adopting their ‘fierce, spunky’ daughter, only to lose her 2 months ago
“Then that fateful phone call. Oh, how that phone call would change our lives. We were contemplating what empty nesting would look like. And then Amie happened. She had a way of wrapping everyone around her little finger. Quickly, we realized Amie wasn’t like our other babies. She already had two open heart surgeries, and there were more in the future. Amie was feisty, and had a personality as big as the sky.”
‘I went to a play date at someone’s house. As I stepped through the front door, the mom giggled, ‘Mimosa time!’ and my body froze up.’: Mom shares fear of judgement over sobriety, ‘Alcohol free is a choice and shouldn’t require an explanation’
“I wasn’t prepared for this. I was so caught off guard, I probably looked like a deer in headlights.”
‘I’m slowly learning I’m not ever going to be the popular girl. I’m just not. I’m not going to be the prettiest, or the loudest, or the life of the party.’
“I’m not good at small talk, gossip or anything surface-y. I’m not going to be invited on tons of girls’ trips, or Bunco nights, or whatever, but I AM the kind of girl who will answer her phone at 3 a.m. if you need someone to talk to.”
‘I still love you.’ When he was 13, he told me he was pansexual. I wasn’t sure what steps I should take as his mother, or even what an appropriate response was.’: Mom of pansexual son encourages others ‘to celebrate our similarities and differences’
“I wanted to prove to Adrian that there is support for him beyond what he saw. Most people have heard that a number of transgender people will attempt suicide. Regardless, this is simply not a risk I was willing to take.”
‘I like daddy better than you! He always plays with me!’ Soul crushing, right? All the things I do for you go unnoticed, but I’ll do them for you anyway.’
“I’m the one tidying up the toys while you are wrestled with. I make sure all your appointments are up to date, even when I forget my own. I’m the one up till 3 a.m. making the LEGO house you asked for. Hiding Christmas presents.”
‘Instead of an Elf on the Shelf in December, I’m doing a Doll in the Hall in October.’
“For an extra festive touch, I put the doll right in bed with the kids whenever they throw it in the trash. It’s Day 3 and they want to move!”
