“I was scared. My job as a school bus driver doesn’t offer maternity leave, I had no savings (hello, single mom!) and I couldn’t afford to just not work. I was due 3 weeks before school started. Her father wasn’t in the operating room for her birth. ‘You robbed me of a great moment, never contact me again.’ He moved across the country without even seeing her. It was official. There would be no co-parenting, I was once again a single mom. I had to make this work.”
‘You’ll ruin my life if you have this baby.’ I said, ‘Fine, I’ll do it alone.’ And I did.’: Single mom school bus driver with no maternity leave takes newborn on route with her, ‘This job saved me’
‘I saw this picture of my teen daughter and her boyfriend. I cringed. I yelled. I demanded she take it off social media.’: ‘Infuriated’ mom changes her mind after she recalls ‘young love’ with her late husband
“As I opened my eyes and focused on the empty space next to me in bed, the space I once shared with the man I love, her dad, I couldn’t help but smile. I knew what that young love felt like. I hope my daughter and her boyfriend never worry. I hope they never pay attention to anybody who questions their truth.”
‘There was a catch. This boy was technically a man. At 20-years-old, our sexual relationship was illegal. After hiding our meetups, I came home to find a police officer on my couch.’: Woman learns to love herself after tumultuous relationships
“My first true love went to jail, and I became a small-town girl with an over-sexualized reputation. Teachers hit on me. Dads from the daycare I worked at stalked me. I was ridiculed, taunted, labeled easy. Enter more boys.”
‘Would I ever feel un-wrecked?’ Daughter’s realization about her ‘know-it-all’ younger self after dad’s death
“Losing a parent young was like being pummeled by a tidal wave. I didn’t know who I was becoming and often wished I could just take. it. all. back.”
‘To my middle school son, I have a few things I’d like you to know’
“You were designed perfectly, imperfect. You will make mistakes. Do and say dumb things. Have some regrets. But, you will also overcome.”
