“It was the first time both of my boys were in school. I was having an epic mom celebration of going to Starbucks, the grocery store, and doing other errands in blissful peace. Then it happened. In the check-out line at the grocery store, I got a call telling me my brother was dead. I must’ve lost it when I hung up because an elderly man approached me. ‘Do you need help?’ I told him I needed my dead brother back. He prayed for me right there.”
‘What do you mean he’s dead?’ My phone was crooked on my shoulder as I paid the cashier. I didn’t utter those words. I screeched them.’: Woman loses brother to Fentanyl drug overdose
‘Our child dumped his piggy bank onto his bed. He’s having a Mardi Gras moment, hurling coins like beaded necklaces. ‘You can’t jump off the top bunk!,’ he tells our daughter.’
“I crack open a tired eyelid to see it’s not even 6 a.m. The rain beating down on our roof is drowned out by the billowing coming from our kids’ room. I lose my cool. It’s been under an hour of complete chaos. This is when my husband and I shift from relying on each other, to turning on each other.”
‘I yelled, ‘Hey! What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?!’ The kid looked at me, stuck out his tongue and ran off. I almost turned into Medusa.’
“Andy was screaming with a swollen red eye, tears rolling down his face. I saw him run off towards his mom, whom I noticed had been on her phone for the entire hour we were there, not looking up once.”
‘We noticed Milena was randomly limping, would have a sore tummy, and always wanted to be picked up and carried around. She started to scream at night.’
“He said ‘There are a couple of reasons why your child may not be able to walk. How could all of the doctors have missed this? Why her? What did I do wrong?”
‘He asks: ‘How was your day today, what did you do?’ You think: Well, I was woken at 7 a.m. while I was in blissful deep sleep by a loud bloodcurdling scream because the baby poo exploded.’
“To say there was crap everywhere was an understatement. The toddler was also angry because he could hear commotion and he wasn’t involved, so he started screaming too. Finally, ready to leave, woohoo! Victory! Except, I’m still in pajamas and I’m pretty sure I have poo on my top…”
‘He ran over to the thigh-high water to find a woman screaming she couldn’t get her seat belt off’: Good Samaritan pulls woman from overturned car in ditch, ‘He was a hero that day’
“All she was cared about was that her drugs were fine. But it didn’t matter to him. He was happy to help someone in trouble.”
‘THIS is real life’ Mom’s emotional plea when ‘you feel like you’re going insane’ as a parent
“THIS is the dark side of parenting they don’t tell you about in books.”
I was the perfect mom. Until I had kids.
“That’s when I saw you. A beautiful young woman who presumably doesn’t yet have children of her own. Another perfect (albeit, kidless) mom, just as I had been once upon a time. I recognized the look in your eyes.”
