“He began disappearing for days. He had no care at all about my pregnancy. I knew something was going on. Little did I know, I’d get the shock of my life. I was excited he agreed to come home for dinner. As I was emptying the pockets in his jeans for laundry, I knew what it was immediately. A glass container used to store drugs. ‘How could he?’ I thought. I sat there crying, holding so tightly to my baby bump, telling her not to worry, I would fix her dad before she got here.”
‘No, no, no.’ I was emptying the pockets in his jeans to wash them. I felt something small, cold. I knew what it was immediately. ‘How could he?’: Single mom learns of partner’s drug addiction while pregnant, ‘I begged him to love our baby’
‘Her father walked into my office, completely lost. His daughter was spiraling. She just needed someone to believe in her, so she could believe in herself.’: Police officer forms beautiful friendship with troubled teen, ‘I refused to give up on her’
“His daughter had started to drink and hang with the wrong crowd. She’d received her first official charge for destruction of property. He had no clue what to do with her. ‘I’ll meet with her.’ As she walked into my office, my whole life changed. She would come to challenge me, as I would challenge her. A bond would be formed that helped both of us become better people. I refused to give up on her. She was in need. She wanted to be better.”
‘She placed her hand on my belly and shouted ‘PREGNANT! PREGNANT! PREGNANT!’ I never met this woman before in my life.’: Woman becomes pregnant with rainbow baby after ‘five years of praying for our family to grow’
“For some reason, I wanted to be a young mom–fit, fashionable, and in the prime of life. I was doing all the pregnancy math. If we get pregnant at this time and it takes nine months to cook, then we’d have the baby at this perfect time. After several months of trying, I started to get a little worried.”
‘My mom would say I was ‘ballooning.’ I was in 4th grade. She’d implement some new weird food rule for my ‘health.’: Woman is ‘blown away’ by body positive community, ‘I learned to love myself, heal my relationship with my body and soul’
“Maybe my mom thought I wasn’t smart enough to hear what she was really saying: ‘My daughter is broken, how do I fix her?’ I was working out. I was doing everything right, wasn’t I? ‘Why am I still fat?,’ I asked myself. I was 10. Eating 500 calories a day, no cheating. But it was there, in that despair, that my life started to change. I came across a plus-size woman’s account and was… blown away.”
‘I looked at him and said, ‘Have we been loving each other wrong?’ After 10 years, my husband and I finally learned how to.’: Couple learn to appreciate each other’s needs
“My husband was distracted by his phone at dinner. I got a little upset. ‘How could he not know how important date nights are to me?’ When we got home, my husband got upset at the growing pile of dishes. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s not a big deal.’ Then, like I’d tried to explain about not having one-on-one attention, he tried to explain why the dishes made him feel not appreciated. For the past 10 years, we’ve been loving each other the wrong way. Loving someone the way you want to be loved doesn’t always work.”
‘Invite them in. Show them the real you. Cry, laugh, spill your insecurities. Take a chance and find your people.’: Woman thankful for true friends she can ‘do real life’ with
“Find that friend you can spend all day with and not get tired of. The one who shows up uninvited and knows she’s welcome. Who cheers your victories and calls your bullsh*t. The one who asks how you are, and actually listens to the answer. That one who knows the reason you turned down a night out is because you have strict plans to wear sweatpants and do nothing at home by yourself. And she loves you anyway.”
‘You are responsible for yourself. It is not his job to keep you happy. True happiness does not come from another, but within.’: Young woman shares love advice after 12-year long relationship
“I’m 24 years old and newly married to the man of my dreams. And boy have I learned a lot about love. You may be thinking to yourself, ‘She’s so young! What could she POSSIBLY know?’ But I’ve sure learned a thing or two in the 12 long years I’ve dated my husband.”
‘You are a better person with her.’ Sadly, her father doesn’t like me and had men try to beat us to death.’: Man has to accept being without love of his life because he wasn’t accepted by her family, turns to God
“My friend said, ‘Don’t fly too high. Don’t have dreams of being with her.’ I kissed her and she pulled away. She said her father doesn’t like me. I’ve tried so many things to impress him and earn his approval. He hasn’t seen it with his head or his heart.”
‘Ben was there for me. He picked me up off of the ground when I felt like my legs didn’t work anymore.’: Woman credits boyfriend for helping ‘calm’ her anxiety
“I was scared people were going to think less of me. I kept saying to Ben, ‘I don’t know how these are going to turn out,’ over and over. Eventually, Ben cut me off. ‘You know I don’t care if these cookies are good, right? You know I’m not going to like you any less?’ And then it hit me. Find your Ben. Because I have mine.”
‘Maybe it’s not about empty soda cans, who forgot to pay the light bill, or dishes in the sink. None of it matters in the end.’: Woman learns to stop ‘fussing about the little things’ after encountering old couple with Parkinson’s Disease
“I stood in the doorway of a restaurant as an old lady shuffled toward me. Her husband patiently held her as she repeatedly attempted to step. ‘She does great until she gets to a door. It’s Parkinson’s and it’s hard,’ her husband sweetly said.”
