“When my girls were little, my parents doted on them shamelessly. Over-the-top-please-stop-you’re-ruining-my-kids doting. It made me nuts, but now I get it.”
‘I’ve actually heard my Grandkids calculating which Grandparent they can hit up for which toys for maximum impact. Our little angels are fully aware of our weakness.’
‘Do you want to tell me about her?’ I will never forget the way you leaned in, just like we were friends, and asked me about Dorothy.
“Thank you to the nurse who dressed my baby and took her picture. Thank you for making sure her hat didn’t cover her eyes and that her hands were positioned so gracefully. That picture means the world to us.”
‘I began pushing my wife away as harshly as I could, yet she stuck around. Why? Why won’t she just leave? We are all miserable and it’s because of me. Doesn’t she see that?’
“My wife and son would come home and tip toe around me as my anger would rear its ugly head. Unbeknownst to me, my wife was scared to be out of the house for too long as that caused my anger to rise as well. ‘What the f*ck were you doing? You know I am f*cked up and can’t ‘babysit’ our son!,’ I would shout.”
‘To the nurse who held my stillborn baby, unfazed by the appearance of a tiny child born 20 weeks too soon. You stroked those itty-bitty fingers and toes. You talked about those eyes.’
“You told me my baby was beautiful, although the rest of the world would likely have disagreed. As you placed my breathless baby into the palms of my hands, I too became breathless.”
‘At 38 weeks pregnant with my second child, I met a friend for lunch. What I didn’t know was my daughter had actually died earlier that morning.’
“To the friends who said, ‘Maybe it’s not her time yet,’ or ‘Things happen for a reason,’ or ‘Just stay strong,’ it’s OK. Really. I hope you never learn from experience.”
To the woman on the Delta flight, I couldn’t walk around with a sign that said, ‘Flying alone with twins to say goodbye to my dying father.’
“I felt like the entire plane was rolling their eyes at my half-effort to stop their screams. I wanted to stand in the aisle and yell, ‘If you’re sick of hearing this crying, please come help me!’”
‘A friend texted me recently, ‘What’s life like as a mom?’: Mom’s candid, raw, answer to her childless friend’s innocent question
“Some days you’ll want to sell them on a eBay but other days you’ll wish there were more hours in the day to stare at them.”
What I want to say to my mom, who ‘drugged’ me
“Thank you for ignoring the people who judged you.”
‘If this was my job, I would quit.’
“If you’re a mom, I’m pretty sure you feel me on this one. I’m pretty sure you’re out there nodding your head in solidarity.”
‘She said she needed her nails done’: How nurse’s simple act of kindness helped calm down seizure suffering 9-year-old
“I never imagined they would actually do it, but a little while later, a child life specialist showed up at the door with sparkly polish.”
