“There were blue-black marks everywhere. One never truly knows how fragile life is until you nearly lose it.”
‘What happened to your face and neck?’ In the blink of an eye, my brother became a monster.’: Childhood abuse survivor urges ‘letting go is the best gift we can give ourselves’
Marriage Is Not About Giving 50/50
“I had always thought of relationships as 50/50 propositions. You each give. And you each take. You try to make it as equal as possible. Right? WRONG.”
‘I kept my pregnancy a secret. I knew coming home from the war would be tough, but I expected him to be a better father. He started drinking and blaming me.’
“I was working full time, coming home to a 2-year-old, while his dad played video games. My initial thought was ‘How??’ I saved the test to show their father. But that never happened. So I sent him a message. Straight to the point. ‘I’m pregnant.’ He packed all of his stuff, and was just gone.”
‘There are items that are impossible to let go of, even if they are broken. My dad bought them for my children. He died almost 3 years ago.’
“Getting rid of anything he had a hand in giving them seems impossible. It’s like little by little, the things he was a part of die slowly over the years, and I don’t want to aide in that disappearance. Every time I look at it, I think about my dad.”
‘I do most things halfway’: Mom’s candid admission as she’s ‘constantly interrupted by the small tribe of people I’ve created’
“There are a few things I do all the way.”
Imagine being loved anyway
“I am convinced more than ever that trust is built not because you are loved, but because someone loved you anyway. They loved you when you were angry, or messy, or cranky or a total and complete pain in the butt.”
