“It has been absolutely horrific watching our daughter fight this with her eyes swollen shut. She has been in the dark, scared, with a high fever.”
‘These heartbreaking images of our beautiful baby girl who contracted MEASLES are extremely difficult. The truth is this, all could have been prevented.’
‘Hubby: ‘I sent these pictures to work to show them the baby. They’re good, right?’ Me: ‘You’re kidding me, right? OH MY GOD! I am NOT covered up down there! Did you even LOOK at them?’
“Hubby: (in a rising and panicked voice). ‘Well, yeah. And I even had your DAD look at them before I sent them!’ My dad’s eyes are bulging out of his head. Dad starts trying to defend them. ‘We were just looking at your faces, it was a cute family photo…. Well, from the top up!’ My husband goes into damage control. ‘Oh no, oh my God, how did I miss that?’”
‘This is how her ‘boyfriend’ shows her he loves her. He is on the run. Her children are in CPS custody. Our family is devastated.’
“This is my middle daughter, Jessica. She is on life support as a result of Domestic Violence. Her body is covered with bruises, her head has large knots, and she was strangled to death. We are waiting to see if we will have our beautiful lady back.”
‘My sister whispered during one of those many hours, ‘Dad is teaching us how to die.’ The man who named the project suddenly became the subject.’
“We watched him go from a life-loving, bike-riding, wine-drinking, book-writing, word-weaving, soul-enriching mensch, to ashes in a box on my mother’s mantle in some of the shortest, yet longest weeks of my life.”
‘Even when we fuss about how ‘chubby’ we look in. Even if we moan the angle isn’t good, I promise you this: We want to be seen. We want to be remembered. And it means the world to us, when you take our picture.’
“I know this isn’t something on the forefront of your mind, and that’s okay. We don’t need every special moment documented…but, let’s be honest. We spend a lot of time doing just that for everyone else. Please.”
‘YASSS GIRL!’ She wanted bubbles in her pictures, and her man was going to make sure it happened. He was so enthusiastic and I’m here for it!’
“Let me tell y’all something! Sometimes I have some REALLY grumpy boyfriends and husbands come to my sessions. Dudes who are on their phones the entire time, saying, ‘Are we done yet?’ But every once in a while, you get a gem.”
‘I have a secret. Somebody we know is hurting tonight. Somebody we know is watching their clock and praying for bedtime to come quickly.’
“There is a dirty little secret hiding behind the curtain. You are not the only one who crashes at the end of the day and needs everything to be silent, easy and invisible, so you can just BINGE OREOS IN PEACE FOR TWO FREAKING MINUTES.”
‘She lost her daddy to suicide a year ago. She watches TV, and then asks why movie characters can die and then be OK again. ‘Can daddy be OK again?’
“She tells anyone who she meets that her daddy died and is a star now. Even strangers. They look afraid to respond; sad for not knowing how to ease this little girl’s pain, and embarrassed how forthcoming she is with such delicate information.”
‘When I placed my order I said, ‘Regular amount of chromosomes, please!’ That’s what everyone else got and what I wanted too.’
“They called me and said, ‘Great news, we went ahead and upgraded you to extra chromosomes for free! You’ll receive the extra chromosomes with your completed order in 9 months.’ What?! I was mad!”
‘I was staring at a naked picture of myself on my father’s computer. ‘What the heck?,’ I said out loud, the last words before rage overtook my body.’
“I walked into the living room where they both sat. ‘I love you. I don’t blame you. I am here to protect you,’ I told my mother. My father looked me dead in the eyes. He was sitting on the couch with his computer screen opened before him. He stared at me blankly. ‘What do I need to show her?’”