“By the time she was 4, her tomboy phase became something different. I remember getting her ready for school. ‘Mom, I want to dress like a girl today!,’ she said. I went out to the living room and told my husband to ‘not make a big deal about what she was wearing.’ He was her protector.”
‘Are you a boy or a girl?’ My daughter responded with the craziest look on her face. ‘I’m a girl!’ I knew she was gay. I always knew she was ‘different.’
‘You are donating your kidney, correct?,’ the nurse asked. ‘That’s what my kidnappers said,’ I cracked. The color was draining from my face.’
“‘Honey, are you sure you want to do this?’ I was terrified. I hadn’t even started a family. What if I got sick in adulthood? What if my husband did? The drugs were kicking in. My husband’s floating head was the last thing I saw.”
‘He carried her! I noticed an elderly lady having a rough time. I pointed her out to my husband. She did not have the strength to come up the stairs.’
“Y’all I have to brag on my husband big time! He made me soo proud.”
‘My daughter, who is always listening, said, ‘I bet she will say, ‘OH, NO! It’s fine!’ But deep down, she will be angry at you.’ That is what my 9-year-old daughter has already learned. From me.’
“I lie awake after parties and wonder if my joke was taken the wrong way. Whose feelings did I hurt? I apologized to my daughter for my actions that lead her to think women had to hide. That pleasing people should be a top priority. The truth is enough.”
‘He found the one man in the mall he felt deserved a ‘thank you.’ A man wearing a Navy veteran’s hat.’: Proud mom watches from afar as son thanks elderly man for his service
“Without hesitation, he respectfully stood before that man who came 50 years before him, and told him he could rest easy, and that his generation would take it from there. All those sleepless nights, all the tears — magically disappeared. It suddenly became worth it.”
‘My son broke his arm yesterday, near his wrist. I am to blame. I told him he was fine. I lied.’
“‘BAM,’ ‘CRASH,’ he hit the ground. He hit the ground hard. I ‘got on him’ verbally for crying and being too dramatic.”
‘Dad, what is homeless?’ I said, ‘It’s when you don’t have food to eat.’ I thought this would be the end of the conversation.’ Little boy’s inspiring cross-country journey to feed the homeless
“He said, ‘They look hungry. Can we feed them?’ I paused because I really didn’t want my 4-year-old subjected to everything on the streets. He walked up and said, ‘Would you like a sandwich?’ At that point, I made the decision to do it once a week.”
‘Realizing I was gay gave me feelings I was trying to numb. I felt like I was doing something wrong and if people found out, I wouldn’t be loved. I spent 15 years in a downward spiral.’
“I hated drugs, but I also couldn’t be away from them. My family had no idea what to do. You name it, they tried it in hopes of getting their son back – but it got a lot worse before it got better.”
‘Alex wants to be independent. I worry. I often wonder if he can do it.’ Mom shocked, elated when son with Down syndrome ‘rescued’ her morning
“The alarm went off, I shut it off and the next thing I knew it was 31 minutes later. A mere 20 minutes before we had to be out the door. I panicked.”
‘Want drugs?’ My bio dad, just released from prison, sat me on the toilet and injected meth into my arm.’: After surviving child abuse, living in 40 foster homes, man finds ‘home’ in his kids’ arms
“I was usually good at hiding my bruises, but one day I didn’t do a very good job. ‘How did this happen?!’ my teacher asked. I told her it was from carrying firewood. Minutes after I got home, there was a man in a tan suit at my door. CPS. The beginning of my journey across 40 foster homes. I feel so lucky to have beaten the odds. Not for me, but for my sons. I’d go through my childhood 1,000 times if it meant my sons didn’t have to.”
