“I glanced at our local paper. There, staring back at me, was a 4-year-old little girl with big, sad eyes surrounded by scarred skin, a head with virtually no hair. The room blacked out around me. I cut out the article, placed it in my pocket. I was determined to help her. Little did I know when I clicked ‘send’ on an email to the journalist, I would be sending away my old life as well.”
‘I ran to the intersection. She jumped out. We embraced tightly, crying, saying I love you in 2 different languages.’: Woman adopts Iraqi girl in wake of bombing, reunites with birth mom 10 years later
‘I almost didn’t go in. I knew no one. All the women had head-coverings and I didn’t. I parked my car and prayed it was the right thing to do.’
“Tentatively, and with a teary catch in my throat, I asked ‘May I leave this sign?’ ‘Are you a Muslim?’ I said … ‘No, ma’am, Christian.’ To which she said — ‘We are all the same.’ I went in a stranger with a sign, and came out with a friend; hopefully for life.”
‘Behind closed doors, I was called ‘crazy’ and ‘too sensitive.’ We lived like roommates that slept together. I tried leaving. He promised to change, and he did, until I got pregnant again.’
“Into my life walks a man I knew since he got sober 4 years earlier. He and his girlfriend had recently broken up. I know my kids are watching us. Our children are always watching.”
‘There’s a picture of you with a shawl around your head. Why are you wearing that?’ I was scared to tell her.’: Daughter converts to Islam, keeps decision from her mom because she ‘didn’t want to hurt her feelings’
“I had sent in my application and a few weeks later, my mom called me to tell me there was an envelope in the mail for me. Not knowing what it was, I told her to go ahead and open it. I was no longer living a secret life. I could be free with my mom now, or so I thought… When others started learning about my conversion, they’d put bad thoughts into my mom’s head.”
‘He couldn’t take it anymore. I noticed a dramatic shift in him. He got home and said he was done.’: Wife pens candid post about husband suffering from severe PTSD, says ‘we are ready to break the silence’
“I’ve been hiding our family’s ‘secret’ for years. My husband has severe and debilitating PTSD. Masking our smiles. Faking ok. A complete nightmare. Ty is a combat vet and has been a police officer of 10+ years. He knew they would look at him like he was crazy. He didn’t want his coworkers to think he was weak or less than. Year after year, I’ve begged him to hold on.”
‘I’ve been hiding our family’s ‘secret’ for years. I have been silent. Masking our smiles. Faking OK. A complete nightmare. I am so sick of living in fear.’
“The officer had actually committed suicide and faked his own murder. This brought out things in Ty I had never seen before. Our family has been in nonstop crisis.”
‘She walked in. The world stopped turning. I fell in love before I knew her name. I was married, she had a boyfriend. Life had different plans for us.’ Veteran recounts ‘whirlwind romance’
“Every time she entered the room, my heart leapt out of my chest. I tried my hardest to hide my feelings, but I was doing a HORRIBLE job. One night, after drinking with my buddies, I figured I’d tell her. I just had to get this off my chest! To my surprise, she wrote me back.”
‘I’ll never forget that first homecoming’: Military dad breaks down in touching photos capturing father-daughter bond before she goes to college
“Some nights sleeping is hard. I think a lot about the past 17 years and how quickly they have gone. Shelby was born just prior to the 9/11 attacks. I was off training and then deployed to Iraq.”
