“‘I’ll pretend we’re dating.’ When the ambulance got there, the EMT suggested I get his number. ‘He’s cute!’ I hadn’t gotten a good look at him under all the blood and sweat. Maybe she was on to something. As they wiped away the blood, I could see his sparkling eyes.”
‘The ambulance will be here soon. Want me to go with you?’ He was a stranger, all alone, with a bloody gash above his eyes. His friends were nowhere to be found. ‘Well, if you don’t mind.’
‘Their mom unexpectedly passed. My heart hurt for them, but inside I was glad she wouldn’t fight us for them anymore.’ Family fosters 2 teens who they ‘loved instantly’ despite troubled past
“We were looking into adoption. It was dicey. Their mom was doing JUST enough to make it seem like she was on track to get them home, but barely. And then we got the news. We didn’t think much of the warning signs.”
‘My birth control failed. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. 40 years later, I crashed into a man at the supermarket. ‘Do I know you?’ My heart dropped.’
“He extended his arm, smiling. ‘Nice to meet you. I’m Timothy.’ It was a split-second interaction, but one I’ll never forget. ‘This going to sound weird, but I feel like I know you. Were you adopted?'”
‘Did I love you enough today?,’ I wondered as I drove you to school through tears of frustration.. I catch a glimpse of you staring at me in the rear view.’
“I want to rewind the day and tell you how good you did. I will ALWAYS be here. Rooting for you. Lifting you up. You are, and always will be, the greatest thing I have ever done.”
‘They ran towards him. ‘Daddy, are you gonna die?’ Deployment was 10 months. We planned a surprise. I never mentioned it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.’
“He told me he was scheduled to return home five months early. I was excited but if you know the military things are always changing. We told our boys we were going to the airport to pick up my sister. He planned it all out.”
‘I was working on a cruise ship. I stepped out for fresh air. I didn’t know this decision would change my life. As it began to rain, I heard someone speak.’
“It was a very handsome man in front of me. As we spoke, I thought to myself, ‘I’ll probably never see him again.’ Weeks went by and I had almost forgotten about him. Then, one day, I was walking back onto the ship when I saw a man being scanned through security. I peeked over at his name tag. My heart fluttered.”
‘I was taken in a police car. Alone, I sat in a room overnight. An old friend and unexpected flame circled back into my life. I hesitated to connect with him because of my illness. I wasn’t myself.’
“The next morning, though I was states away, he was waiting in visitation for me in the hospital. I saw the pain in his eyes. When it would have been easy to notice only the illness, he saw me. Even in the darkness, he had hope.”
‘I found YEARS of mail in his trunk. My husband was living a double life and had another daughter! He abandoned us in a Target parking lot and changed the locks to our home.’
“He was a con-artist living a double life. All of our belongings were thrown out like trash. My daughter and I tried to make the best of our ‘vacation’ as I called it, while I cried and washed clothes in a hotel sink. I thought to myself, ‘How could I be so dumb?'”
‘Are you sleeping with my husband?’ My baby was 4 months old and she needed her daddy. She dropped a bombshell. They immediately updated their relationship status on Facebook.’
“I’d walk in from work to find them giggling in the kitchen. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, I found out I was pregnant. She grinned. ‘Anytime you want me to babysit, I’d be happy to.’ She looked me straight in the eye. ‘I thought you should know…’ she began.”
Boy grows hair to donate to kids in need: ‘What are you doing in the boy’s bathroom? You look like a GIRL!’ One parent asked, ‘Is that a boy? That is such irresponsible parenting!’ His hair was long and angelic. I never understood.’
“No matter what he wore, he was mistaken as a girl by strangers. Even in his Spider Man costume, someone said, ‘Oh she’s so cute!’ I got used to correcting people. One day, I was called into the principal’s office.”
