“We walk in the room, and stand quietly. I start to cry. Well, that was fast. One outfit sends you spinning into a memory. We had stopped at a light and flagged down a police officer to escort us. She was bleeding everywhere. The outfit was ruined.”
‘Mom, why are you keeping a homework assignment?’ I had to sit facing her. I wanted her to know I wasn’t afraid.’ Mom shares grief journey after losing daughter to cancer, ‘We’re going to be okay’
‘The invite came three months before the actual wedding date. I waited and waited, but my father never responded.’: Woman says ‘those who love you will show up, you won’t even have to ask’
“I waited and waited, but nothing. Simply because my mom’s boyfriend was going to be there. He didn’t respond to my text, so I called. No answer. The man who my mom would marry a year later, not only showed up, but he danced with me. That is a real dad. Someone who shows up.”
‘A text from my husband came in. ‘I’m not happy. I want more. If you’re coming home, I won’t be here.’: Woman finds ‘new version of happiness’ after husband’s abandonment
“I pulled into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot and tried to call him. His phone was off. When I made it home, nothing was out of place. Except my husband was gone. Large bar tabs appeared on our statements. Girls’ phone numbers came up on our records. The following week, he agreed to meet me at the park. ‘I want a divorce.’ He was cold, emotionless. I refused, which made him angry. I obsessed looking for something that may have led to this. Some sort of sign. He offerred no explanation.”
‘Good thing you didn’t get attached.’ He wasn’t a puppy. Jensen was my child, my sweet baby. I’ll always be attached.’: Mother recalls rude comments she’s heard since her son was stillborn, ‘Do not compare anything to losing a child’
“‘Isn’t it time for you to be moving on?’ No. I will never move on. My child died, it’s not like I lost an earring. You don’t just pick up and move on to the next thing. ‘God wanted him more.’ This did not comfort me. My doctor said this. He didn’t call Jensen a him, he actually said, ‘God wanted it more.’ My son is not an it.”
‘I’m mesmerized by your blue eyes.’ I laughed. It felt as if we knew each other 100 years.’: Widow shocked to find love after loss in stranger on a lake, is now pregnant and ‘forever grateful to be loved by two amazing men’
“When we started dating, I kept it a secret. I didn’t want to be judged. I was so worried others would say it was ‘too soon.’ I felt like I was cheating on Kyle. One day, it hit me. Kyle wasn’t coming back. It was okay to be happy with someone else. I am due just 4 days after mine and Kyle’s wedding anniversary. A coincidence by no means. I know he’s smiling down – he did that.”
‘My innocence was taken by a 19-year-old. We jumped into a ‘relationship.’ I let him take me into bed because ‘My innocence was already taken. Why did I need to pretend like I had it?’
“I felt like I was important and loved. A few months later, my mom took me to the doctor. I was pregnant, at 15 years old. He hit me in the back of my head multiple times but he took me to Taco Bell after, so he still loved me. Where else would I go anyway?”
‘I cried when I told you. I knew it was my fault. You looked at me like you wanted to say you loved me, one last time. A ping hit my chest. I was careful with you.’
“I trusted you. I did everything right. I’m finally letting go. When you find that girl you’re in love with, tell her she’s the luckiest girl in the world. Please take better care of her than you did me.”
‘Why didn’t you call the police?’ ‘I would have fought back.’ ‘Well, why didn’t you?’ ‘You got married really young. Did you see the signs before you were married?’: Woman ‘angry’ she was never ‘educated on what abuse is’
“I would hear the words, ‘I want a divorce,’ for the first time, on our honeymoon. A friend had an intervention with me. An aunt told me, ‘You know, you don’t have to do this,’ right after we were engaged. I remember scoffing, thinking, ‘All it takes is commitment.’”
‘This is my ex-wife. The mother of my 3 children. The woman who brought all 3 of my children into this world.’: Husband honors ex-wife’s engagement
“We got married young, had 3 beautiful children and had a bitter divorce. Three years later, that relationship is much different.”
‘The 8 hours before, he was barely sniffling, laughing robustly, and writing Valentine’s Day cards. He threw up once. ONCE. I did everything, everything. This wasn’t supposed to happen.’
“In a blink of an eye, ‘it’ came. I refuse to call ‘it’ my mom, because in that moment, she wasn’t mom. Her grief had overtaken her, and ‘it’ was what she unintentionally became. And ‘it’ turned and said to me – ‘How could you let this happen?'”
