“Right then and there she dragged me back to her office. I was screwed. 8 a.m. was my deadline. I had four days to finish a semester and a half worth of work. I ran there.”
‘By chance, I met his school counselor. She was a sweet lady with long dark hair and a petite build. ‘What are you doing currently?,’ she asked. I sheepishly admitted, ‘I dropped out.’
‘I got a call from my dad. In a moment of panic, I blurted quickly, ‘Dad, I’m pregnant.’ There was radio silence on his end. I remember thinking it would never get easier.’
“The friends I had gone to high school with tore me apart online for posting a picture of my baby and saying I loved him. ‘How can you say you love him when you didn’t even want him,’ they wrote. ‘You didn’t even want to be a mom.’”
‘It was only yesterday we were reckless and 18, and now we have an entire world of responsibility. Time is never guaranteed.’
“Since the age of 13 when I began to crave that drivers license, 16 when I began to crave freedom, 18 when I began to crave independence, I’ve been wishing to be further ahead in time. If only we knew how fast the time would actually go.”
‘I sank deep into my insecurities. Stop talking so much. People don’t like that. Tone it down. You come off as too much. Don’t be so ‘you.’
“I knew everything that was wrong with me. I didn’t need a list to point them out in black and white. I’d known since I was little. And I was over it. 35 years of that mess was enough. So, I deleted everything, and I started blank.”
‘This is not my year to run a marathon, drink 2 gallons of water a day, or make healthy, home-cooked meals. It is my year to survive.’
“This year, I’m laying it all down. I can’t. The truth is, I’m in the weeds. Some years aren’t meant to be record-breaking. Some years are meant to survive.”
‘I mentioned how different my hair felt. Her eyes widened as she touched my head. My thick blonde locks were noticeably thinner.’
“That day at the hair salon was pivotal. As I sat with foils covering my head, I knew I had to make some changes. For so many years I had put others before me, it was time to take control of my life.”
‘I lost 100 pounds in less 8 months. I was sick. I had gotten down to eating only one orange a day. Then I gained it all back. I got the phone call that changed my life. My mother had died.’
“We have unexpectedly adopted 2 newborn babies and moved our youngest boy’s biological brother in with us for an undetermined amount of time. Being a working mom of 5 boys really takes a toll on my workout routine and takes a LOT of juggling.”
‘A woman had a home that was ‘perfect for a couple that isn’t together, to live together.’ 2 years from the day I moved out, we moved back in together, as a co-parenting family.’
“The first night, Onyx cried out and before I could rush to his side, Tyler was already there soothing him back to sleep. I knew in that moment that although this was unconventional, this was right for us.”
‘The meaning of support. We were a team. I looked to my husband with tears streaming down my face apologizing for being a failure. He lifted my chin, and told me he was proud of me.’
“My husband was my rock, my foundation, and got my mind where it needed to be. He’s truly my king. It was the most intimate experience laboring with him.”
‘My name’s Erik, and I’m an alcoholic. I got sober 5 years and 110 pounds ago.’
“I bought liquor and dog food with my last paycheck. I was about 310 pounds for the second time in my life, freshly laid off, and lacking in a lot of the things I used to use to define myself.”
