“I thought about abortion. But one day, scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post from a childhood neighbor. She had a friend who, with her wife, were looking to adopt. People judged me. ‘Even though you hate the father, don’t hate the baby.’ I knew exactly what it felt like to want a baby more than anything and not be able to have one. It was my time to help.”
‘At 41 years old, I felt pregnant. ‘But how could I be? I have an IUD.’: Woman births rainbow baby after multiple miscarriages, becomes birth mom in adoption to give back
‘Momma, what does ‘depressed’ mean?’ I was cooking dinner when my daughter overheard the woman on the news.’: Little girl shares acts of kindness for ‘forgotten’ nursing home patients
“I told her it means someone is really sad, and explained lots of people are very sad they’re unable to see their families during the pandemic. Without skipping a beat, she said, ‘I will color them a picture. They can hang it on their wall, and it will make them happy just like it makes you happy.’ My heart immediately tripled in size.”
‘The funeral paper you read? It’s about your mom.’ This is how I found out at age 9. No one asked me how I felt.’: Daughter pens letter to late mom lost to cancer, ‘We heal by lifting others’
“I learned of mom’s death by coincidence after reading her name on a funeral paper. I asked several times, ‘Is it true?’ I wasn’t allowed to express my feelings.”
‘I remember crying, ‘I feel like I’m the only person in the world without friends.’ There I was, 24 years old without my tribe. Life hit a total reset.’: Woman urges ‘you will find your people’
“There is nothing wrong with you, my love. But there is everything you have yet to still give to the world. I promise, one day, you will find your people.”
‘Maybe her shorts are too short, her jeans too tight. Maybe you think her dress is too revealing. What you don’t see is a woman falling apart.’: Woman urges ‘we are all just trying to do our best’
“You deem her unworthy before she even has the chance to speak for herself. She’s not a woman who finally found the courage to be who she is, dress how she wants, stand up for what she believes in. Trying not to let the coldness and cruelty of this world break her. Instead, she gets labeled. Simply because she just exists.”
‘You’re the girl who cries on her way to work but walks in with a smile on her face. The girl who never asks for help.’: Woman reminds us ‘there is no shame in being vulnerable’
“I never reached out to anyone for help in any way — whether it be a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or just some advice, support, and borrowed strength. I know many reading this have been there as well. We are not so different.”
‘People always tell me how lucky I am to be a stay-at-home mom. All I can think is, ‘Then why do I feel so f—ing lonely all the time?’: Woman shares candid reality of being a stay-at-home parent
“When I gave birth to my daughter at 19, people always asked, ‘When do you plan to go back to work?’ When I said I planned to be a stay-at-home mom, they’d always say how appreciative I should be. Nobody tells you how draining being stuck in the same routine, everyday, is. The same pile of dishes, the same pile of laundry, the same toys lying all over the floor. No matter how many hours are in a day, you still won’t feel like you’ve done enough.”
‘I was incarcerated at age 12. I sold all my parents’ electronics and disappeared. By the end of the night, I injected heroin into my arm.’: Man beats life-long addiction, ‘My recovery is nothing but a miracle’
“I was on parole with a daughter on the way. I smoked it. I was so delusional I believed if I didn’t inject it, I wouldn’t become addicted. I was so numb to the world, digging myself into my misery with each high. One night, I was in a drug-induced haze and the most incredible thing happened. Brittany’s water broke. She was in labor.”
‘I remember feeling venom shoot through me. I fell into a deep, incoherent state as my veins pulsated into my head.’: Woman celebrates 6 years of sobriety after heroin addiction
“I had 4 children, 3 triplets. Truthfully, none of them were planned. The chaos I created was unraveling at the seams. I was leaving a women’s prison to live in a homeless shelter because not a single person wanted me paroled to their home. If I felt I didn’t belong, I’d draw a line of cocaine. As the need for the next high got more severe, so did the consequences. I wanted the heroin to remove the dirty feeling on my skin.”
‘I want to buy Sean’s grave.’ I was shocked. ‘What?’ Silent tears ran down my cheeks. I gave him a tight hug. ‘Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.’: Widow shares kind act that helped relieve financial burden after husband’s sudden death
“Greg stepped forward. He looked right at me. ‘A few months back, Sean came and saved me from a plumbing nightmare when my water heater went out. He wouldn’t let me pay him for the labor. Sean’s not here to argue with me. Let me give him this final gift of thanks.’ I was speechless.”
