“Bloodcurdling screams. My daughter’s lungs could shatter glass. A grandma approached us. She wanted me to scoop up my inconsolable daughter and comfort her. I’ve done that before, but at this point, my daughter was too far gone. As much as this woman wanted to intervene and help, she didn’t know my daughter.”
‘A stranger approached, startling me by placing her hand on my shoulder. ‘Can I do anything to help? Would you like me to buy you a coffee?’: Mom ‘surprised’ by young mother’s kind gesture, ‘I wasn’t as alone as I felt’
‘Toddlers, huh?’ ‘You’ll miss these days.’ I smile back. They mean well.’: Mom of autistic son explains ‘this isn’t a tantrum, this is stimming’
“‘She will be good for him,’ she motioned towards my newborn. What? I live in a new city, knowing hardly anyone other than my husband, and now I suddenly have an autistic son and newborn daughter? I looked at my sweet Finley, his precious little face, and cried because of how I thought the world would see him.”
‘That’s my brother,’ he stood next to me crying. He never left him. His skin was white as a sheet.’: Mom ‘so shaken’ after son’s stroke scare, ‘No moment is promised’
“It was a normal day. We headed to Wegmans. While I was pushing the cart, Finn was lagging a little. ‘What’s wrong?’ He responded, ‘I can’t keep up, carry me.’ One of his sides went limp and his face was leaning on the cart. I went to pick him up and he collapsed on the floor. I started screaming for help and a Wegmans employee yelled to call 911. They wanted to make sure he didn’t have a stroke.”
‘I don’t mean to stir up drama, but this woman says your baby is ‘fake’ and you’re stealing yogurts.’: Mom gets ‘good laugh’ at supermarket after stranger’s false accusations
“To the lady who told the cashier at Aldi I had a fake baby and was trying to smuggle yogurts out of the store: 1) My baby is 100% real. 2) Yogurts are like 25 cents. 3) I’m lactose intolerant and don’t consume dairy. Thank you for the laugh, though. I really needed it because I was up all night tending to my again, 100% real, baby. Parenting is hard enough; the judgement of strangers is not needed.”
‘Hey! I saw you in there.’ I hear a man’s voice shout from behind his steering wheel. ‘I’m so sorry.’: Stranger’s act of kindness helps Mom reach her ‘turning point’
“He must have seen us inside the grocery store. It was the first time we were going in without a stroller. ‘Everybody listen for Momma, okay?’ Six innocent eyes peered back at me. We were here for a mission. ‘Looks like you have your hands full.’ There was every cliché of panic on my face.”
‘Can you play baby shark?’ Repeat for 68 hours. Ask someone to cough in your eyeball. Poo with the door open.’: Mom hilariously points out how to ‘prepare for children,’ warning you’re not ready
“Try to unwrap a lollipop in 3 seconds flat. Set a loud timer that screams at you if you fail. Buckle up an octopus in a car seat. Get 3 monkeys and drive around with them. Give them popcorn and honey. Make a snack every 7 minutes. Go to bed Get up again.”
‘Where is my wife?’ An old man turned a corner and put his hands on my shoulder, tears in his eyes.’: Woman comforts distraught stranger with Alzheimer’s, ‘kindness costs nothing’
“I jumped up. My first instinct was to get angry and ask him to please not touch me. Then I noticed something. The man was crying. ‘Do you know where my wife is? I’ve been looking for her.’ He was now shaking and crying softly. I was thinking maybe he lost her in the aisles. Hasn’t everyone lost someone this way? I was wrong.”
‘He doesn’t buy flowers or cook romantic meals, but he always pushes the grocery cart.’: Woman claims ‘love is found’ in small gestures, learns to accept husband as is
“If his restaurant order is better, he’ll switch plates. He knows all my favorite ‘lady products’ and will run to the pharmarcy for me. He unloads the groceries while I sit with the seat warmers on. Every time. I wasted years looking for the love shown in movies, disappointed time and time again, instead of paying attention to how HE loves.”
‘Oh my Gosh! I’m crying in Aldi’s! Please judgy cashier, keep walking past. Screw these bags.’: Mom caught off guard, brought to tears in grocery store after realizing she was ‘missing my partner’
“Clearly, I was not mentally prepared to grocery shop this morning. Something wasn’t right. The drive was short and quiet. I quickly got out of my car with everything I needed. Really, it was an Aldi shopping success…. until I reached the bagging counter. That’s when it struck me, why I was so off. For the first time in 9 years, I was missing my partner.”
‘They grow up fast. You’ll miss this someday.’ REALLY? I’m going to miss being tortured by my 2 kids wrestling like bear cubs in a grocery store?’: Mom says it’s okay to ‘not love every part of motherhood,’ admits her kids can be ‘brutally annoying’
“I was at the grocery store today with my kids when I said a little too loudly, NOT in my mom voice, ‘I love you, but you’re REALLY annoying me.’ A young couple walked by, with no kids. ‘Well, that was brutally honest.’ I was judgingly told I’d miss this part of motherhood. I promise, I won’t. And it’s totally OK to tell your kids they’re being annoying when you’ve broken up 19 fights before you even got to the store.”
