“After I said, ‘right now?’ he gave me the look of nevermind. I saw it. He knew my question meant ‘not right now’ or ‘we’ll see’ or any of the other things I say when I don’t want to do something. ‘You’re always so busy.’ And he was right. Not in the guilt me way, but in the truth way. His words stuck with me so much as I was sitting there, I decided this morning I’d be busy in a different way. My coffee is colder. But my heart is warmer.”
‘Mom, can we play a board game?’ It was 7:11 a.m. ‘Right now?!’ I was groggy, drinking coffee.’: Busy mom slows down, realizes play time is ‘just what she needed’
‘I was holding hands with my boys when a friend shook his head at me. ‘Ya know, you’re raising them to be mama’s boys.’ Every hair on my arm stood up.’ Mom with all-boy tribe criticized for raising ‘mama’s boys’
“It was a neighborhood street, but the darkening sky and numerous curves made me a little nervous. So, I kept my boys close to me. And just like that, the cool air was replaced with hot steam billowing from my ears. He continued to list reasons why raising mama’s boys was a NEGATIVE thing. It was one of those Mama Bear moments you don’t see coming, but hits hard and fast.”
‘I have a lot more respect for you now, mom.’ ‘My daughter turned to me and spoke the words I’d been waiting my entire life to hear!’ Mom explains why the ‘teenager years’ are her favorite stage yet
“I had to hide my youthful giddiness and play it cool. The older, wiser mom will tell you the toddler years are the best of all. That in the blink of an eye, our kids will be mini-adults and the days of cuddles and air-blown kisses will be gone. NO ONE tells you the cool things that happen.”
‘Who wants a single mom with a deformed monster?! NO ONE!’ Pregnant at 18, my abortion was the next day. A flip switched.’: Mom raises son with missing limbs despite abusive partner’s pressure to terminate pregnancy
“Pregnant at 18? Hard. Finding out your baby has no arms or legs? Earth shattering. I tried to distance myself from my baby, but I woke up screaming, holding my belly. I would give birth to a vegetable. As I laid there, it hit like a thousand ton of bricks. I screamed to my baby boy that I love him, and I just wanted to do what’s fair for him.”
‘Why do we lie and utter the words ‘I’m fine’ to our friends? I’m tired of hiding, and I think you are, too.’ Mom admits motherhood has served her ‘a big slice of humble pie’
“Today, I lost it. Finito. Buh-bye. GONE. I could feel my nerves fraying at the seams and in true me fashion, I cried. This is what no one tells you about. The hard stuff. If a friend shares her truth and says she’s in a funk, don’t tell her your life is sunshine and rainbows. Tell her you’re in the freaking arena with her.”
‘I saw a 3-year-old girl step onto a subway of Las Vegas strangers ALONE, and the doors were closing. I met eyes with a mom. Then, the subway bolted off.’ Woman recounts how ‘every mother’s nightmare’ of losing a child became reality
“The mom was gathering an unholy ton of luggage, and had turned away for just a moment. She looked up with absolute horror. People were suddenly shoulder to shoulder, crammed like sardines. I bent down to a sweet, terrified girl. Quiet tears fell before the shaking of her small sobs could be heard. There was no police. No security guard. No one, but her.”
‘Did she want another woman in her life? I waited to meet my stepdaughter for the very first time. My heart pounded as she stepped in the car.’ Woman explains there’s ‘nothing natural about a blended family’
“Trying on my wedding dress, I sensed tension with my boyfriend’s daughter. My mind raced, and I pulled her aside. ‘I’m not trying to replace your mom.’ I never expected to start a family like this.”
‘My son died all alone in his apartment. In the blink of an eye, my family changed. It seemed impossible to think I wouldn’t see him, hug him ever again.’ Mom’s 26-year-old son dies due to ‘senseless price of insulin’
“Insulin was $1,300 a month. My son left the pharmacy empty-handed. He lasted only 27 days without insurance. I’d been to my fare share of funerals, but nothing prepares you for the death of your child.”
‘Her little chest was open. She was swollen, double her size. She didn’t look like my baby. A nurse calmly said, ‘I don’t feel a pulse.’ All I could say was, ‘NO!’ Over and over.’ Single mom touched by stranger’s act of kindness after hours spent in ER
“I realized I had just watched my baby die. My seven-day-old flat lined and died in front of me. I couldn’t believe how calm they were. Completely restless and emotionally ruined, I posted in a local mom group. ‘I can’t leave my daughter alone, but I really need a coffee.'”
‘My pregnancy crushed my stepkids. The mom and dad they’d known were gone, and now we were bringing a baby into their lives.’ Mom feels ‘remorse’ for bringing child into ‘complicated’ home
“I mourned that my daughter couldn’t be welcomed into the world with joyful innocence. She’d be born into a life of sharing Christmases and summer vacations. A life where daddy couldn’t tell mommy she was his first and only wife. I had to bury the dreams of what I THOUGHT motherhood looked like.”
