“On the outside, we looked normal. But behind closed doors, dark secrets hid. My younger sister woke up while it was happening. She said, ‘Daddy can you do that to me like you do to Shannon?’ He told her, ‘No it’s only for her.’ I was only in 4th grade and it tore me apart. I still hear and feel him breathing down my neck.”
‘My dad was married and had an affair with my mom. I became the product of their affair.’: Woman overcomes childhood trauma, addiction, proclaims ‘I wear my story with pride – all of it!’
‘He crept in my room when my mother was working. My stepdad said she wanted me to do ‘those things’ to make him happy in her absence. I was afraid. I could trust no one.’
“I was told I was ‘Pretty for a big girl.’ Because I was overweight, I thought that would keep me safe. If I stayed fat, no one would want to touch me. My grandparents would ask me questions. Of course I denied it.”
‘I want to surprise him. To make it official.’: Boy eagerly asks Stepdad to adopt him forever
“My high school sweetheart was shot and killed at a party. I was left a single mom, lost without my best friend. This man stepped up and took care of this amazing little boy when his daddy was taken from this world. Connor asked if he could ask Jonathan to adopt him.”
‘It started out as ‘the talk.’ But it was hands on. I remember feeling dirty and wanting to crawl in a hole and die.’
“Life had become unbearable under the weight of my secret. He told me no man would ever want to marry me because I couldn’t keep the house clean. I knew that wasn’t true, but I did think no man would ever want me. I was tainted.”
‘I got on the bus. 3 boys yelled at me, ‘Hey white boy!’ ‘Mom, I was nervous.’ After all, I was the only white boy on the bus. They asked if I use the N-word. ‘No,’ my Stepdad is black. He’s my family.’: Mom of autistic son finds new love
“Austin, my son with autism, asked him, ‘Have you killed anyone in a war?’ I quickly tried to hush him up. He looked at Austin and said, ‘No, but I know bullets can kill.’ Austin looked perplexed. ‘Do you like video games?’ ‘Yes, I love video games.’ Austin smiled from ear to ear.”
‘DAD! STOOOOPPPP!’ I screamed. I could no longer rationalize his strange and uncomfortable behavior.’: Sexual assault survivor bravely speaks up after 20 years, urges ‘you are not your story’
“I would witness dual sides of his personality. One would be full of love and laughter as a family man and the other would be animalistic and cruel. I felt like his prey. An outsider greatly misunderstood. I began to question whether or not it was my fault and if I’d somehow given him the wrong impression. I was sworn to secrecy.”
‘My oldest son wanted to ask his Dad (as he calls him) to adopt him, and officially take his stepfather’s last name.’
“When the day got here, even I was unaware of what was going on. I was just as shocked as he was.”
‘He was so wiggly coming out he made it hard to catch him! We were so overwhelmed, he was so beautiful.’: Parents welcome ‘perfect rainbow baby boy’ after pregnancy loss
“We had a surprise pregnancy. Unfortunately, that ended in a loss of our little one which hit us pretty hard. We choose to leave everything up to fate and not prevent another future pregnancy. Sure enough, 5 months later we were expecting another little one! And again, it ended in a loss. So, we chose to hold off on the idea. Turns out fate had other things in mind.”
‘They refer to themselves as ‘husbands-in-law.’ This picture shows how co-parenting should be done. The man on the right is my dad; the man on the left is my stepdad.’
“When the preacher asked who was giving me away, they both grinned big, pointed at one another and exclaimed, ‘He does!’”
‘I was married to a drug addict, then I married a man who happened to be a recovering addict. I wouldn’t change a thing.’
“My children’s father was set on a path that would lead him to a heroin addiction. The young man I had married, the one that had loved his babies and was so excited to be a dad, was gone.”
