“She provided the most breathtaking comfort I’ve ever received. She showed up and simply said, ‘I know what it’s like to be the first one at the casket.’ I was speechless. Numb. Humbled and heartbroken. The first one at the casket. It was true. I hadn’t thought of it. It was a humble reminder of the honored spot I was standing in.”
‘Standing at my mom’s casket, I was approached by an old friend I hadn’t seen in decades. ‘I heard, and I came.’: Woman loses mother, ‘humbled’ by old friend’s act of compassion she’ll ‘never forget’
‘Will is gay! Mom, I’m the first person to know!’ I immediately got nervous for him.’: 12-year-old gay son comes out, celebrated with epic outpouring of support from ‘Pride Tribe’
“My 12-year-old daughter appeared in the kitchen after school. She started a conversation the same way she always does – ‘MOM! Guess what?!,’ except this time it wasn’t followed with, ‘Kate likes so-and-so’ or ‘Mrs. O gave us so much homework!’ This time, her face lit up. ‘He told me first!’ I was happy her friend had confided in her, but I was scared for Will. I asked if he’d told his parents yet. The answer was ‘No.’”
‘I’m the ‘strong’ friend. Yet, I battle depression. Did you expect me to pull it together? I don’t work like that.’: Woman reminds us to ‘check on our strong friend,’ ‘she’s faking it’
“I’m the strong friend. I meet you for drinks when you’re facing disaster. I bring you dinner, flowers. I’m your sounding board. But you forgot to check on me. You ask me where I’ve been, you say I seem ‘off’ and that you miss my posts. You know what I heard? ‘Why aren’t you playing the role I need you to play?’ But I can’t play that role in life right now. I don’t have it in me.”
‘Mom, my best friend doesn’t want to hang out anymore.’ My 11-year-old was dumped for being gay because the parents disagree.’: Mom comforts LGBT son in wake of backlash, ‘this is why moms like us lose our children’
“‘How was school?’ I asked C.J. His pain came pouring out. ‘My friend said her family doesn’t hang out with gay people. She doesn’t want to know me anymore.’ Tears dripped from between his little fingers. ‘Who will I sit with at lunch?’ He climbed into my lap like a small child. ‘If I could take the hurt away, I would.’ I said. ‘I know, but you can’t take the gay away.’ This is what hate does. It’s a mother rocking her 5th grader because neither one knows how to ease the pain.”
‘Women tell girls to ‘never depend on a man’ as if it makes you less of a woman. Well, call me weak. I depend on this man right here.’: Woman admits she ‘needs, depends on’ husband despite criticism
“I’m not scared to say I depend on my husband for so much, and that doesn’t make me weak. In fact, it takes a strong person to depend on someone else with their whole heart. He’s my home base, the one always there to help carry whatever life throws at me. I’m showing my kids that a strong woman is one who knows how to depend on a man without losing herself along the way.”
‘I understand you’re not in the stadium to see the marching band or cheerleaders, but PLEASE clap for our kids, too.’: Band, cheer mom reminds us to ‘yell, applaud’ for the marching band, ‘they work incredibly hard too’
“At most high schools, the football team is applauded and admired while the marching band is made fun of. The halftime show is their chance, for a few minutes, to be cheered on. Please DO cheer. Their formations are equivalent to touchdowns. They march, practice, and give up summer free time in 90-degree heat to get their ‘game’ ready, too. There’s no ‘marching band madness.’ The newspaper won’t give a run-down of their show. The halftime show IS their big moment.”
‘I was 6 months pregnant when I said ‘I do.’ I picked a cheap dress, wore borrowed rings, and didn’t have a honeymoon.’: Woman claims wedding was the ‘best day of her life’ because she ‘chose the right man’
“I planned our wedding in less than 2 months. I was pregnant, so I didn’t care what my hair looked like on our special day as long as it was out of my face so I could quickly vomit. We were married on a Sunday and went back to work on Monday. I wasn’t wearing my dream dress. But my loved ones surrounded me, and when I said ‘I do,’ I believed in the person I was choosing to lead me into our new life.”
‘Never in a million years did I think I’d get cancer, much less BREAST cancer.’: Male breast cancer survivor urges men to ‘get checked out’ if they notice ‘something out of the ordinary’
“One night after I got home from the gym, I felt a tiny lump the size of a dime on my right nipple. Like most men, I assumed it was a cyst or ingrown hair. My wife pushed to get it checked out. Lo and behold, I was drinking my morning cup of coffee, still in my PJs and trying to wake up, when I got a call. ‘Michael, our biopsy results came back and you have cancer.’ I went to work that day looking like someone walked over my grave.”
‘I love watching you play.’ This is the ONLY thing a child needs to hear from a parent after a game.’: Sports mom says children need to know their worth ‘isn’t measured by wins or losses’
“Parents. Stop the madness. The lectures. The play-by-plays. The should’ve, could’ve. Look around and you’ll see on every court, field, ball park…all the talk. How would it feel for someone to criticize your every word or move, in your ear? Even when they didn’t score, even when they didn’t win, even if they turned over the ball, flubbed up, or missed the catch, our kids need to be praised for their effort.”
‘When can I see the baby?’ New moms hear over and over, before she’s even left the hospital.’: Mom reminds us to ‘nurture the mother’ post-delivery
“Before she’s had a chance to sleep. Before she’s showered off the blood. ‘When can I come see the baby?’ Her estrogen and progesterone levels are plummeting. She’s shaky. Hot, cold, sweaty, and weak. Her crotch is swollen, puffy. She has stretch marks, hair loss, acne, blurry vision, and dry eyes. When you walk into her house, look at HER. Admire the baby, sure. But don’t forget to nurture the mother.”
