“I knew I wanted to surprise him at my wedding. As I wiped my dad’s tears away from his immovable smile, I looked over his shoulder as my new husband gently wrapped his arms around my mom. This was truly the sweetest moment of my life.”
‘Before the wedding, I edited our father daughter track. He didn’t know this version was going to be different. Surprised, his head dropped on my shoulder. Tears rolled down both our faces.’
‘I was almost a school shooter. I had 2 locations mapped out. The bullying became unbearable. But 2 things stopped me, and altered the course of my life.’
“Mike took me in that night, letting me sleep in his room against his parents’ wishes, sneaking me leftovers from dinner. He helped me wash my clothes and let me take a shower. I hadn’t shared my feelings with anyone, but someone was watching.”
‘Yesterday I hired a babysitter so I could cry and eat my Reese’s Pieces in the shower alone. That’s not fine. Can we all be honest? Sometimes things are not fine.’
“‘How are you doing, lately?’ They ask. And most of us stick with, ‘I’m fine.’ My mastectomy is coming up, but I am fine! You can’t pay bills, but you are fine. Her marriage is crumbling, and her family will be devastated. She is fine!”
‘If you EVER speak out, I know where the bullets are.’ I walked in the snow for miles in short sleeves. I woke up in the hospital, angry I survived, and pulled out all the hospital tubes.’
“I looked up from my bed and saw my mother and sister at the door. The look in their eyes is something I never want to see again. I feared that I had to be cured. I wish I had seen the warning signs.’
‘I whispered to myself, ‘It’s going to be okay.’ The silence in the room was deafening. I held my breath as the wand slid over my stomach.’
“To the woman who wondered if sharing a photo of a dead baby was necessary on my feed. Yes. That baby, the one you ‘didn’t have time to look away from,’ is my daughter. Her name is Dorothy, and I wish I could see her face right now.”
‘I crawled out of my sunroof. I saw flashing lights behind my car and burst into tears. ‘How many times can 2 loving parents bail out their idiot child?,’ I thought. This was the last straw.’
“I remember nothing after midnight. I woke up the next morning terrified of talking to my parents. They were going to murder me, I knew it. Tearfully, I told them what I’d done.”
‘My doctor held my hand and started, ‘Tami…’ In that moment, I knew. I couldn’t breathe because I knew. Or at least I thought I did. My heart exploded with relief!’
“We were walking out of the house when a feather floated right in front of us. As we sat enjoying our morning coffee, another tiny feather made an appearance. On the drive home, I kept thinking … two feathers … what does that mean? But I had a hunch. I went straight to the bathroom and found a pregnancy test.”
‘I didn’t think anybody would miss me if I was gone.’ Her daughter planned to commit suicide. She left goodbye letters. She was ready to leave the world.’
“As her mom sat across from me, we both had tears streaming down our faces. I asked if I could write my student a letter to be delivered to her at the hospital. ‘My daughter would love that,’ she said. I wrote cards to every one of my students, over 100 of them.”
‘My boy is 13 and he has WHITE HAIR!’ I went into a hysterical panic and phoned his doctor. We waited in a small exam room with dinosaurs. This alone made me sick; my boy was no toddler.’
“I noticed something strange on Daniel’s knee. A white patch. It was the size of a dime and honestly looked like an old scar. When I asked him what happened, he replied, ‘I don’t know.’ I remember nearly yelling at her, ‘Yes, BUT HE HAS WHITE HAIR! Could there be anything else going on with my son?!'”
‘I had to leave my 5-month pregnant wife behind. I was completely alone. ‘Am I cut out to be a dad?’ I showered and climbed into bed. Then it began. ‘THUMP, THUMP.’
“‘Does she even miss me? Is my wife going to love me after this long separation? Would I be able to provide for my family?’ My heart started beating louder. LOUDER. I started sweating profusely. It was 4 a.m. I began to panic.”