“While attempting to get my daughter Paige back to sleep, my 4-year-old, Mackenzie, woke. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘This is going to be a long day.’ Little did I know, just 5 minutes later I’d be scooping these tiny humans up in my arms and rushing out the front door while thick, black smoke engulfed us.”
‘Is this actually happening?’ We watched our beloved home go up in flames as we stood in disbelief. All our possessions were gone.’: Mom details losing home to fire, ‘We’re looking for silver linings through the grief’
‘I’m wearing my first wedding rings.’ I braced myself for an angry, jealous response. It was his wedding day, too.’: Widow wears wedding rings to late husband during second wedding, never plans to take them off
“For my wedding last year, I did something atypical. I put on not one, but two sets of wedding rings. In case you think I’m a psycho who is still in love with her first husband, you could be right. I didn’t take them off by choice—I took them off because he died. Three days after my son was born, I became a widow.”
‘Your voice got loud. You said I made a nasty mess. I’m sorry, mama. I didn’t mean to make you mad. You look so pretty today.’
“I love your soft hair and your makeup, mama. I’d like to put makeup on my face, but I don’t have any. You run around searching for your phone, and I have an idea! I saw a marker in the other room. I color all over my face. I bet I look beautiful! But, you didn’t think so.”
‘I remember how dark and frigid the inside was. It was completely empty. Not one piece of furniture. Nothing. I wandered into a room off to the side. I walked towards it, and instantly got chills.’
“When he got off the phone he said, ‘What do you think? Should we do this?’ I asked if he had seen what was on the wall and he said no. I showed him the picture. When he looked back at me, he had big tears streaming down his cheeks.”
‘There are items that are impossible to let go of, even if they are broken. My dad bought them for my children. He died almost 3 years ago.’
“Getting rid of anything he had a hand in giving them seems impossible. It’s like little by little, the things he was a part of die slowly over the years, and I don’t want to aide in that disappearance. Every time I look at it, I think about my dad.”
‘I asked my 95-year-old grandfather to dance with me. I have never seen him smile so big in my life. I wanted to live in this moment forever.’
“When my grandfather saw my tears, he asked me why I was crying.”
‘I have been noticing lately that I have old lady hands’: Woman’s heartfelt post about coming to terms with aging
“I see them sitting there taunting me on the steering wheel as I drive, all wrinkly and veiny and old-looking.”
‘The only solution was to lose weight or die’: Couple loses jaw-dropping 400 pounds together
“Next month I turn 30. Rather than it be a milestone of a sentimental birthday, it will be a milestone of saving my life before it was taken away.”
‘This Mom life is all I ever hoped and prayed for, and I don’t want to miss it.’
“I started to think about how many other things I do every day without really noticing them. So much of this early part of motherhood becomes routine so very quickly.”
‘It’s bittersweet’: Rainbow baby inspires mom to create cherished art out of sentimental baby clothes
“To the parents involved, they mean so much more than just the art. They represent their journey through parenthood, sweet baby memories, and fleeting moments. A precious part of their lives that only they know.”
