“As a Christmas Eve baby, I never got parties with friends. My birthday presents doubled as Christmas presents. People wrapped my gifts in Christmas wrapping paper, birthday cakes had Santa on them. Living in the shadow of Kris Kringle, my grandma wanted to do something to make me feel special.”
‘Every half-birthday, my grandma would take me to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Every year, she texted me to make me feel special.’: Christmas Eve baby cherishes grandma’s kindness during forgotten birthday
‘I started to cry. You should never have to sit that far away from your friends.’: Mom talks social distancing and kids, ‘You don’t have to be emotionally distant’
“It’s just a couple kids sharing a table. There’s nothing I can do. But you should never have to sit that far away from your friends. I know it’s smart. I know it’s necessary. Then I stopped and I started to cry.”
‘To the kids who TP’d my house last night…THANK YOU. I’m excited to clean up the mess.’: Man has best reaction to neighborhood kids TPing home
“The trees are too bare, the roof has little to no paper, and you left half-rolls sitting on the ground. THIS IS SHODDY TP-ING WORK.”
‘There are storms, but each night he hurries to ask, ‘Mom, will you sleep with me first?’ I give him a squeeze and a kiss, and ask God to comfort us both.’: Mom says ‘I am his security blanket, his calm after the storm’
“Each night, he fits his a-little-bit-bigger body into that same curve of my arm, just like he did years ago. I hear the same breath and feel the same warmth on my skin. And I can tell at this rate we’re going, he and I won’t ever get enough time.”
‘Who is going to pay for them?’ The years brought 7 more kids. ‘Are you crazy?’ Maybe.’: Mom chooses to have large family, ‘We had less money, but more love’
“The amount of rude comments were astounding. ‘Don’t you know how that happens? How do you afford them? We couldn’t figure out why everyone saw having a big family as a negative.”
‘I was walking into the grocery store when a kid asked, ‘Are you a looter? Do you like looting?’ Inside, I was boiling.’: Man turns racist incident into teaching moment for local kids
“As I was walking away, I heard one of them say, ‘Man the ice cream melted!’ I could’ve kept walking, but I decided to turn it into a teaching moment.”
‘Mommy, while you were texting your friend, I was trying to tie my shoe. I did bunny ears all on my own, but you weren’t looking.’: Mom urges ‘put the phone down’ in emotional letter
“While you were ordering off Amazon, I built the tallest tower of blocks. I thought you would have been proud. While you were posting a photo on Instagram, I was twirling like a princess to make you feel better because you were having a bad day.”
‘So we just drove all the way here to not get helped?’ I said ‘uggghh’ loudly enough for her to hear as we walked away.’: Mom stresses importance of owning your mistakes, ‘Those little eyes are watching you’
“The same young lady answered the phone. ‘My son and I left about 10 minutes ago. Were you the one talking to us?’ She hesitantly said, ‘Yes.’ I never knew the most impactful apology I would give would be to a complete stranger, but it happened last night.”
‘I had visions of these lovely children who would follow the rules. Turns out, these little people don’t really care much about my vision.’: Mom learns important lesson about children, ‘I’m not in control’
“I picked up a million shoes and socks and empty wrappers and stray toys from the floor then washed breakfast dishes and gathered clothes that are sitting BESIDE the hamper to shove into the washer. And my eyes came to rest on the empty toilet paper roll.”
‘I was prepared for the hurts that call for a kiss and cuddle. I wasn’t prepared for the hurts I couldn’t fix.’: Mom talks parenting during trauma, ‘It isn’t something you can navigate, it is theirs’
“I thought I could protect my child well enough. A trusted big person took advantage of them.”
