“I used to stand on the sidelines of my kids’ games and listen closely to the rich moms. My stomach dropped, my defenses rose every time: Must be nice to live that way. Do they have any idea what it’s like to have $40 left 10 days before payday? I was righteous. It made me feel better to put them down. A simple request from my teen daughter one morning put me on a journey of changing my reverse-pride.”
‘I LOVE those, are they Lulu? I just got 3 new pairs! Aren’t they great?!’ I’m a poor mom living in a rich-mom world.’: Mom learns to stops judging the rich after holiday act of kindness, ‘the size of our bank accounts doesn’t define us’
‘Ma’am, you dropped something.’ She couldn’t afford to buy a SLICE of cake for her son’s birthday. ‘Take this. It’s yours.’: Woman shares touching act of compassion for stranger, ‘kindness is putting others before yourself’
“This morning at the supermarket, I saw a young mom buying a slice of cake and candles for her little boy. It came to $5.57. She started looking around and pulled out 2 dollars. ‘It’s okay, mom. I don’t need a birthday cake. We just need gas so I can get to school.’ I could tell she felt defeated. She put back the candles. Everyone in line clearly heard and saw what was going on, but no one said anything.”
‘I used to be a bully. I was awful, and I wanted so badly to be liked.’: Woman admits to feeling ‘pang of guilt, shame’ at being childhood bully, proud of her ‘efforts to better herself’
“I was terrified my classmates wouldn’t see my worth. So, I threw rocks, said ‘bad words,’ and acted tough. The worst, though, is that I befriended kids I knew would let me get away with treating them terribly. I took advantage of them and their effortless kindness. I never want to be the cause of pain for anyone. It’s one of the worst things in the world to feel worthless. I know because I’ve been a bully to myself as well.”
‘School is hard for my daughter who has never made less than an ‘A.’ She practices and prints off extra homework. The thought of failure invokes panic in her busy little mind.’
“I have one child who has brought home a handful of awards year after year, and another who faithfully collects his lone participation certificate. His best will never look like scholar of the year. But success looks different on every child.”
‘I’m looking down on you. LOOK UP. I SEE YOU.’ My son wrote his ‘goodbye letter,’ and ended his life.’: Mom loses son to meth addiction, suicide, claims she sees ‘signs, traces of him’ everywhere
“I got out of the car. My son asked me to hug him. ‘You know the one thing you told me never to do?’ I was confused. That’s when he dropped the bombshell on me. ‘I’ve been using drugs.’ I couldn’t believe my ears. He was not a smoker. He was very conscious about his health and was extremely fit. He showed no signs of addiction. How could I have missed this?”
‘My son played at her house earlier that day and acted up. This is the moment that finally broke me. This was the moment it all came flooding out.’
“It’s hard to hide you’re drowning when water is gushing onto the floor. I was horrified. I was embarrassed. I was sure she’d tell everyone. But instead, my friend simply said, ‘Let’s go out tonight.'”
‘There’s a Christmas tree. There’s a gingerbread man.’ But it’s what she said next that took my breath away. ‘And there’s Parker,’ my daughter recited.’
“As I looked at the plate of cookies, sure enough, there was a cookie angel I had decorated. I smiled at my daughter as my eyes welled up with tears.”
‘Last week, a boy at school punched my daughter in the face. HARD. And yes, I have pictures.’: Mom appalled 5-year-old daughter is ‘afraid’ to tell on a boy who punched her for fear of not being ‘nice’
“She came into the world weighing 4lbs. 5 years later, she is still extremely petite. I need anyone reading this to react with the appropriate amount of horror when absorbing the following sentence…”
‘To some, Maddie was just a junkie — when they saw her addiction, they stopped seeing her. And what a loss for them.’
“Though we would have paid any ransom to have her back, any price in the world, this disease would not let her go until she was gone.”
‘My doctor treated me like I was a drug addict for asking for a prescription. ‘Don’t ever ask me for this again. I won’t keep giving it to you.’ I walked away feeling like I needed to shut up and deal with my anxiety on my own.’
“No one else was breaking down in tears, so I assumed I was the only one struggling.”
