“He may not hold my hand, my husband, but he also doesn’t hold me back.”
‘My husband and I don’t hold hands anymore. When I see other couples, I feel a pang. Jealously? Concern?’: Wife explains how husband ‘holds her’ in other ways to support marriage
‘Is there something wrong with you? How can a little girl not be loved by her own mother? It sucks being judged, walking on eggshells.’: To the woman who doesn’t have a great relationship with her mom, ‘It’s a lonely road, but there is hope’
“This is your reality. Your mother is more like a long distant cousin. Your friends bond with their moms over ‘The Bachelor.’ They could talk for hours about decorating the same way Joanna Gaines does. But you can’t do that. Your mom barely has a maternal bone in her body. She dropped you off at college and barely hugged you goodbye, thankful you were finally out of her house.”
‘My husband and I married. ‘I’m going to be a stay-at-home mom,’ I declared. With little push-back from him, out popped 2 children.’: SAHM’s candid feelings on feeling ‘horribly unseen’
“I proceeded with my plan to be Susie Homemaker meets Carol Brady. But no one was around to witness it. I was with another human all day, but felt horribly unseen. I was over-touched, but not talked to enough. I’d been constantly moving, but never really exercised my mind. I often found myself staring at the clock, willing the magical sound of the garage door to arrive.”
‘We’ll refund your money, but you have to leave.’ ‘What?’ Husband: ‘YOU NEVER GET TO CHOOSE WHERE WE GO AGAIN.’: Woman recounts hilarious attempt at saving money on vacation
“‘Allison, this is a mistake.’ ‘No way! It’s great. It has a pool for the kids to swim in.’ My daughter dropped her pacifier on the floor under the bed. I bend down to grab it, and what do ya know? There’s a pair of dirty underwear under the bed. About 20 minutes pass and we hear a knock at the door. It was the poor desk clerk. ‘You have to leave.'”
‘I promised I’d never divorce him. I was an Evangelical Christian woman. I wasn’t about to give that up because my disturbed husband couldn’t stop screaming at me.’: Woman leaves her abusive pastor husband after 10 years, ‘I never looked back’
“I hid big, dark, angry, broken feelings from the world. If I acknowledged their legitimacy, that meant I had to acknowledge that my husband–the megachurch pastor–was my abuser. And I was his victim. No, thanks! I’d much prefer to pretend everything is fine and our family is blessed.”
‘My husband came home from work. ‘I think we should separate.’ He’d been discussing our marriage with his mother. I jumped out of bed, livid.’: Woman ‘grateful’ for her cheating ex and his mistress, ‘They set free the woman I was’
“‘How could you discuss our marriage with your MOTHER?’ I demanded to know. I yanked my rings off. ‘Isn’t this what you want?’ He asked. ‘Don’t you hate me?’ It felt like a weight had been lifted. We planned our divorce. Everything was going great until the paperwork was signed. I suggested we go out to dinner to celebrate. He shook his head. ‘Just go, Tara.’ I didn’t understand. And then a tall, thin woman with wavy hair walked in the door. He locked eyes with her. I was struck with another revelation. It wasn’t his mother with whom he’d been consulting about our marriage, it was his girlfriend.”
‘I chose to wear headphones. I didn’t want to hear or see Lily, afraid she would die. I kept my eyes affixed on my husband.’: Parents who lost twin daughter navigate marriage through tragedy, ‘We weren’t remotely prepared for what lay ahead’
“My husband encouraged me to look at my 1-pound daughter. If Lily died, we agreed to sell all our belongings and move to a beach in Hawaii, disappearing until we felt strong enough to return – but Pat knew Lily was strong enough to survive. I had intense, terrifying thoughts. This is not what we anticipated when we took our vows, but we faced each day together. We’ve come so far from stupid teenagers breaking curfew for 5 more minutes together, but if they could look ahead, I know they’d be pretty damn proud of us, too.”
‘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.”
‘Had I just been a part of a cheating scandal? I wanted to vomit. I immediately called him out, probably sent him a million swear words.’: Woman shares ups and downs of their ‘non-fairy tale’ story
“I was texting other guys. This is when S**T GETS UGLY. He started talking to someone new. Someone who wasn’t rat girl and someone who wasn’t me. I was completely done.”
‘I would NEVER drug my child.’ I was appalled. ‘Too much for me?!,’ I exclaimed. It was a nightmare that broke me.’: Foster mom’s children are removed after son gets into medication, ‘It felt like battle’
“My son climbed onto the counter and got into some medication. This launched an investigation of abuse on me. The state caseworkers were trying to prove I purposely overdosed my son because he was ‘just too much for me.’ ‘Too much for me?!,’ I exclaimed, ‘These kids are everything to me.’ They replied, ‘We believe you’re too stressed from a recent divorce. We need to make sure you are safe for your children.’ I felt the fire consume me. It was all so much.”
