“Nothing about foster care was easy. Why wasn’t there a boot camp for this? The Navy had trained me so well for potential threats, but now I was in an actual war field and felt left for dead. I almost walked away.”
‘Please take me home.’ Watching her crumble at her birth mother’s feet almost did me in. We had to protect her.’: Couple adopts teen from foster care, ‘She deserves a safe place’
‘OMG! It’s not working. Give him one more dose. ANOTHER.’ Everything went downhill, and FAST.’: Woman recounts heartbreaking and unexpected loss of father, ‘I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone’
“All day I kept having a weird feeling—like maybe I should call and ask him, ‘How are you?’ I just put it off as something else. The hospital assured us he was fine. I just shut down. I can’t explain it, but this switch in me just turned off. I don’t remember much after.”
‘You’re under arrest.’ My HUSBAND called the police on me. I woke up in the back of a cop car.’: Woman gets sober, delivers rainbow baby, ‘I can’t live my best life while drinking’
“I fed my toddler crackers and watched TV because I couldn’t function. I could NOT parent. The ‘’mommy juice’ culture became a slippery slope.”
‘I can’t raise a child. I can’t even take care of myself!’ I had nothing left to live for. Or so I thought.’: Woman recovers from addiction for daughter, ‘All it took was a tiny shimmer of hope’
“Self-medication was the only thing keeping me alive. I sat outside, chain-smoking and chugging a bottle of wine. ’My boyfriend is an addict and I can’t get sober.’ I was never supposed to get pregnant.”
‘I was over-medicated, an emotionless zombie. I didn’t know how to celebrate without him. This year, I FEEL.’: Widow shares feelings on holidays while grieving, ‘Finding a new normal is weird’
“I feel, at any moment, every good feeling may be the last one I have. I just have to put on my fancy holiday anxiety and deal with it. The worst part about being a widow is holidays.”
‘Try not to cry, you won’t be able to wipe your tears.’ I thought I’d faint from shock. Tears rolled down his face. ‘We’re here now, Pops.’: Woman loses father to COVID-19, ‘We’re never alone’
“We looked like something out of a space movie. Shoe covers, face mask, visor, and two pairs of gloves. ‘There’s nothing more we can do.’ No more miracles. He was gone.”
‘We’ll need swings for two babies.’ I told my daughter, ‘Not this time.’ Then my doctor whispered, ‘You won’t believe this.’: Woman gives birth to preemie rainbow twins
“My doctor scanned back and forth. ’There’s two.’ I looked at my daughter, who had her arms folded. She said, very matter-of-factly, ‘I told you.’”
‘They gave me a shot in each leg. ‘What if I lose her?’ It seemed like seconds before the nurses returned with news.’: Couple welcomes rainbow baby after ectopic pregnancy, ‘I regained my belief in miracles’
“I was sent to surgery to remove my fallopian tube, and an estimated 30% of my fertility. I was terrified my dreams of a family were lost in the operating room.”
‘We’ll never ask a child to leave our home.’ The most terrified child was dropped off. She was haunted.’: Cancer survivor bonds with adopted daughter, ‘We stepped into her grief with her’
“I came up with ALL the excuses, all of them rooted in fear. ’I could never love a child and give them back.’ Grief isn’t something to fear. Love like that is worth it.”
‘He hands me a check and I walk out to the car and see he put ‘Kate.’ I cried. I looked back and really looked at him. So tiny and frail. I told him I preferred ‘butthole.’: Woman shares ‘drive-thru friendship’ story of kindness, ‘I really miss him’
“He wouldn’t look at me, he would hand me money and say he wanted a six pack of Natty. He handed me a debit card and a grocery list and told us we could spend $20 on ourselves. I jumped for joy as soon as I shut the window. A couple hair cuts later, he hands me a check.”
