“People always told me the number-one thing couples fight about is money. I can’t remember how many times I saw that same old line in relationship articles or advice columns. However, I never really believed it. ‘That’s something unhappy people fight about,’ I thought. Then, we settled into marriage. I was dead wrong.”
‘We don’t work this hard to put our daughter in used clothes!’ I was MAD. That’s when it clicked. This wasn’t about money.’: Couple learn to stop fighting about money, ‘we’re going to be a solid unit together, for richer or poorer’
‘Why are you home early?’ my husband asks. I haven’t showered in 6 days. He didn’t know. People with depression are great at hiding it.’: Woman candidly shares the reality of mental illness
“I’m smelly. There’s oil and debris gunked on my face. I have knotted hair, armpit hair. Other hair. I’m disgusting right now. There’s no other way of saying it. Mental illness sounds cute when you put it on a post with a person staring in the distance saying they’re ‘depressed.’ But depression is more than just sadness. It’s raw. It’s not showering for 6 days, then collapsing in your bed, exhausted, when you finally do.”
‘It happened. My husband messaged a woman I didn’t recognize. What I saw made me cry.’: Woman celebrates mental health growth after discovering her old texts, ‘I am nothing like that woman now’
“He was showering after a long day with our kids and happened to leave his phone on the table. Unlocked. For some reason, I felt compelled to look at his messages. I scroll up, hoping to see some cute old texts we sent months back. I wanted to re-read them, to smile. What I saw, made me want to cry. The person he was texting was a very broken woman.”
‘Time’s Up!’ The words cut me like a knife. I watched as he left. ‘I Love You,’ he mouthed. Then he was gone.’: Military couple’s whirlwind romance through training, deployments, ‘I’m proud to stand by his side as he serves our country’
“Deployment day arrived. As I hugged him, the cool metal of his dog tags pressed against my cheek. I said through tears, ‘You better come back safely to me!’ before he climbed onto the big plane to take him away. He looked me right in the eyes. ‘I will baby.’ He said, ‘Life is too short, let’s get married.’ He was serious. I don’t know what he saw over there. I have never asked. We married 3 days after his return.”
‘Dustin, I’m gay.’ She’d been faking it for 10 years. I was kicked out. ‘Say goodbye to our dogs.’: Man finally ‘healed’ after wife comes out as gay, ‘I wish her all the happiness in the world’
“I’d done everything I was supposed to do. I found a woman I loved. We had a house, dogs, great jobs. We were the rock solid couple to be envied. I cried for the first time in 10 years. ‘If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police.’ Something inside me cracked and fell away. I couldn’t speak. I was left to pick up the pieces of my white-picket life. Worst of all, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone.”
‘Let’s do it. Tell them yes!’ I begged him. She was so fragile, perfect, small, like holding a doll.’: 25-year-old ‘mama to many’ discovers she’s pregnant while fostering, ‘What! Seriously?!’
“I’m only 25. Married with two kids at 23. And boom, surprise! We were pregnant again! My husband was downstairs playing on his phone… relaxing. ‘Babe….’ Silence. The look on his face – pure disbelief. I get a call. ‘We have a 3-month-old, very preemie baby girl, ready to be discharged and on oxygen.’ My first thought was, ‘There is no way we can handle this.’ I knew my husband wasn’t going to be on board.”
‘He doesn’t buy flowers or cook romantic meals, but he always pushes the grocery cart.’: Woman claims ‘love is found’ in small gestures, learns to accept husband as is
“If his restaurant order is better, he’ll switch plates. He knows all my favorite ‘lady products’ and will run to the pharmarcy for me. He unloads the groceries while I sit with the seat warmers on. Every time. I wasted years looking for the love shown in movies, disappointed time and time again, instead of paying attention to how HE loves.”
‘Having a baby won’t ‘fix’ your relationship. Oh, no. It will test you.’: Woman urges importance of being in a ‘solid relationship’ before having kids, ‘parenthood can break you’
“Your eyeballs are hanging out of your head at 3:00 a.m. while you’re looking at your partner’s worthless nipples. You’re on the couch, barely speaking to each other, thinking every noise is the baby waking. Scrolling through phones to fall asleep, you forget to say goodnight. Conversations were once everything. Now, they’re kept to the point because there’s just no time.”
‘To my ex-husband’s family, you didn’t have to continue loving me, my new husband, and child. But you do.’: Woman pens emotional letter to ‘compassionate’ in-laws, ‘you’ve turned an unfortunate circumstance into something beautiful’
“I was married before, to a man that needed to be rescued and saved. I realized in marriage that I’m no lifeguard. I could only rescue myself and my beautiful kids, and I did just that. I divorced. My in-laws, the first time you welcomed all of us into your homes I watched, mesmerized, as my new husband stood next to your family, enjoying each other’s company. It was a simple moment, but it took my breath away.”
‘This is my second wedding dress. My second bouquet. I’m not ashamed. Truth is, divorce gave me my life back.’: Woman gets ‘second chance at love,’ admits second wedding is ‘more of a marriage than the first’
“I don’t talk about my first wedding often. Never actually. After my divorce, there were months I struggled to get out of bed. There was pain and suffering. Rage. So much rage. This was my second wedding dress, but this heart? It’s renewed. This is my redeptiom.”
