“A friend told me, ‘You must not be trying hard enough. Do you wash your face at all?’ For years, I didn’t leave the house. He would offer to take me on dates. My answer was always the same. ‘No.’ I became obsessed.”
‘I couldn’t hide the huge bumps on my face. I felt hideous. I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror. I genuinely HATED what I saw.’
‘My boy is 13 and he has WHITE HAIR!’ I went into a hysterical panic and phoned his doctor. We waited in a small exam room with dinosaurs. This alone made me sick; my boy was no toddler.’
“I noticed something strange on Daniel’s knee. A white patch. It was the size of a dime and honestly looked like an old scar. When I asked him what happened, he replied, ‘I don’t know.’ I remember nearly yelling at her, ‘Yes, BUT HE HAS WHITE HAIR! Could there be anything else going on with my son?!'”
‘I bet all the girls at school have a crush on you,’ he said. He tore a receipt and wrote his phone number down. I walked out of my front door on a school night and hopped in his car.’
“My mom was distracted when he passed the information to me and said, ‘I would love to help you figure out what you want to do when you grow up.’ Then my mom chimed in about how great I was at sales. That was his siren. That was his bridge. That was his free ticket.”
‘I showed my daughter a birth video to prepare for the arrival of her little brother. ‘Mommy, can we watch another one?’ She now requests birth videos almost daily.’
“Most children develop an obsession at some point. They have a favorite animal or sport. My daughter Kaeleigh explores twin births, outdoor births, water births, and midwives on YouTube.”
‘After 22 years of marriage, I found myself headed to a divorce court. When I walked into Kmart, my life forever changed. ‘I would ask you out if you weren’t wearing that wedding ring,’ he said.’
“I had to act swiftly. I ripped a price tag off from an item of clothing and rushed to grab a pen from an empty register. He was headed for the exit. ‘Today is the first day of my life,’ I said.”
‘At first, Mickey’s grooming was very subtle. I knew it was something I just had to deal with. He granted me a new home and this was my life now.’
“When I cut my hair short she said, ‘Only old women and dykes have their hair short.’ There is no doubt in my mind that any disclosure would have only solidified her disgust with me.”
‘I had one job: protect my children. The next day he was gone and there was no way to get him back. I felt myself slipping away from reality.’
“On my son’s birthday, I laid on the floor, belly-down, with my hands on my chest to force myself not to hyperventilate. Minutes later, I rejoined the party with a smile on my face. ‘I am fine,’ I told myself.”
‘My father secretly recorded videos of me naked. I wanted nothing but my mother’s love and support. ‘Get out of my house,’ she told me.’
“I wouldn’t allow him to have power over me any longer. I stood up and walked out of the house. No one followed, no one cared. I had angels flying over me that night.”
‘Boys, go to your room. I need to talk to mom.’ I knew the look of anguish, though I’d never seen it on his face. I’ll never forget the phone call that changed his world.’
“My (now) ex-husband took the call. ‘Bam, that was your sister. Your mom found him in the driveway in front of the garage. He had been out messing around in the yard.’”
‘I was over 600 pounds. I feared my wife would find me dead of a heart attack. I had two choices: lose weight or die.’
“I couldn’t walk more than a few hundred feet. People avoided me in public, as if being overweight was contagious. One parent used me as a lesson for their kid. ‘Look at him. This is what happens when you don’t eat right,’ she said.”
