“Let’s be honest. You have friends. I have friends. We don’t need to be each other’s friend. I make you insane with my dumb rules, and frankly, you aren’t always a peach to live with either.”
‘Dear Teenage Daughter Of Mine, You help me understand why some animals eat their young.’
‘I was 17 years old, one month away from graduating high school. I was hanging out with a ‘friend’ who wanted to have sex, but I did not. He chose to rape me and the condom broke.’
“I received a phone call from my cousin who had just turned 14. She was calling to tell me she was pregnant. We ended up being due 3 weeks apart. I was shocked.”
‘I found out I was pregnant at only 17 years old. The news rocked my parents’ world. I was smart in school and dumb in love. I always knew I’d have the baby.’
“My swollen belly served as a force field around me. It quarantined me from regular teenage life. In true Jerry Springer style, I married the childhood best friend of my baby’s daddy.”
‘I’ve been married 4 times. Yes, you read that right, 4 times. I met my first husband when I was in 8th grade. I asked her who ‘he’ was. She said it was my cousin.’
“Graduation night arrives and I am 18. Time to run away from home. Oh my gosh, what was I about to do? I left my parents a note on the kitchen table.”
‘I asked the store manager who turned it in, they said it was Anthony. I went to bless him with $100. I also called his mom to tell her what a great job she was doing with her son.’
“His mom cried tears of joy.”
‘I was pregnant. Talk about the craziest 9 months of my 16-year-old life. My life changed overnight. I found out I was pregnant in May, days after my sophomore year ended.’
“If you want to see friends come out of the woodwork, get pregnant at 16. Everyone judges every move you make as a 16-year-old mom.”
‘I was 14 when I gave birth. It’s not every day you’re sitting in a waiting room with a 14-year-old mom, with her baby’s oxygen tank on her back.’
“I was a cheerleader, swimmer and honor roll student who attended church every week. On the outside I looked like your average kid.”
Celebrating your teen pregnancy is not sticking a neon sign to your head saying ‘HUGE TEEN PREGNANCY ADVOCATE RIGHT HERE.’ No. She’s judged. Frowned upon.
“When I got pregnant at 19, I found this out the hard way.”
‘It’s a good thing you’re pretty because you don’t have much else going for you.’ Those words cut deep. I allowed them to affect how I viewed my worth.
“I was diagnosed with Lyme disease after I began college. I found unnatural amounts of hair coming out in my brush. I stood in front of the mirror in tears.”
‘I discovered cocaine in my mom’s purse while we were shopping. She had it hidden in a mint case along with a razor blade and a straw. Then she married her drug dealer.’
“She stayed with him because he was always ‘sorry.’ He ‘never meant to hurt her.'”
