“I tried to sleep in the same room as my brother, but the foster parents wouldn’t allow it. Imagine being stuck in a snowstorm, clothes stripped, your soul feeling empty and cold.”
‘I’m just going to the doctor.’ Dad never came back. I became the main caretaker at 9.’: Abandoned daughter makes it through foster care, ‘You have to turn pain into purpose’’
‘One day, I opened up her cookbook. Inside was an inscription. I cried tears I didn’t know I had.’: Woman honors late grandmother with tattoo, ‘I love you forever and always’
“Naming my child after my grandmother never seemed like enough. It never seemed like it was enough to pay tribute to the woman who meant more to me than I could ever express in words.”
Dear Daughters—Don’t Let The High School Lunchroom Label Follow You
“Because nice girl, mean girl, sleep-around girl? You just don’t have time for it. You are going to shake the world, and bring it to its knees.”
‘Just leave it all, sweetie. Leave the mess. It means you were around today, and a little piece of you is still here.’: Grandma shares sweet reminder to ‘never take life for granted’
“How often do we hustle and bustle to pick up our home’s messes? How often do we grumble at our little ones to ‘please’ straighten up? The moment took my breath away, and filled my heart with a bittersweet reminder.”
‘The principal came over the loudspeaker. ‘What’s going on?’ I panicked as we left. ‘They can’t find your Grandma Myrna.’: Woman remembers grandma lost on 9/11, ‘I still miss her laugh’
“She worked at the World Trade Center, and she’d shop on her lunch break. She ALWAYS had the most out-of-this-world clothing. She was constantly turning heads. ‘Do you think Grandma is gone?’ All I remember is the way she looked at me.”
‘Take photos with your grandparents, because one day, when the dust has settled and the years have gone by, those photos may be all you have left of them.’: Woman pens ode to grandparents
“In a culture where I never felt quite good enough for anyone, I was good enough for them. They loved me for me; in all my brokenness and in all my flaws, my grandparents loved every ounce of my being. None of us knew it at the time, but they saved me in more ways than I can count.”
‘I caught sight of her coat hanging off the banister, waiting to be picked up and worn again. I couldn’t hold it together. She didn’t know it was the last time.’: Woman urges ‘hold on to each moment before it’s a memory’
“I was composed when I received the message she had passed, and when the doctor came to verify her death. I was composed when I kissed her forehead for the last time. It was only as we were getting ready to leave her house, that the silliest thing got to me.”
‘My kids are not being ‘watched.’ They are spending quality time with grandma and papa. It takes a village to raise children.’: Mom admits ‘my parents teach my kids things I can’t yet’
“‘I could never let my kids be watched by someone else weekly!’ When I tell people my kids go for a sleepover once a week at their grandparents, they almost fall over and always end up shaming me.”
‘You should just go have a one-night stand and get pregnant.’ I had never felt so dirty.’: Woman becomes single mom with support from loved ones, ‘I never felt alone’
“‘If I have no prospects by the time I’m thirty, I’ll have a baby on my own.’ I was stagnant. I hated the person staring back at me in the mirror. All I had to say was, ‘I was wrong.’”
‘Who were you back then? Before the lines, before the aches, before time took your strength away?’: Woman urges ‘every day is a blessing’ after encounter with stranger
“Your walk was tired, sore. Your spirit wasn’t. I saw you catch me looking. I saw you wink. It got me thinking.”
