“I was with my husband for 13 years. I’m 30, which means our relationship began when I was only 17. At the time, we were madly in love. However, there were so many drastic changes from when I was 17. I needed to make changes in my life. One day, though, we just sat down and had a talk about how unhappy we both were.”
‘I know it is the best thing I have ever done for my family. Divorce is not a tragedy.’: Mother of two reflects on the positives stemming from her divorce
‘There is a 90% chance your baby will be born with Down Syndrome.’: Couple prepares for rare Down syndrome Diagnosis, ‘we knew a diagnosis didn’t change our love for this little life inside of me.’
“I had no idea just a couple of days later, we would experience a loss and pain we were never prepared for. Our loss made us stronger. ’Your scans showed a high probability your baby will have Down Syndrome.’ How can I be a good mother when I hate being pregnant? I just didn’t want to be pregnant anymore.”
‘You should’ve used birth control’ was not something I was ever prepared for as a mom. This complete stranger looked at us in disgust.’: Mom of 10 turns the other cheek on bitter Instagram commenters
“This wasn’t the first time I was met with bitter and awful remarks at the size of my family. I took a deep breath and put my phone away for a while. I’ve grown a thick skin at the words people use to describe us. But this one stung. She didn’t know we lived in two tiny trailers in our backyard while our home was being rebuilt after the fire.”
‘Amazon: Thank you for your order!’ I glance down at the photo and price. $430?!?! ‘What’s this? I didn’t order anything?’ SHEER PANIC. Then, I connected the dots.’: Daughter mistakenly orders from Amazon without permission
“My first thought was, ‘Did I buy this in my sleep?!’ It was already in transit to my house. It was too late to cancel the order. Then, I got it. An email notification. I went into full blown panic mode with no off button.”
‘No, mommy. You obey ME!’ My son was LOSING. HIS. MIND. Tears were flowing, arms flailing. He threw his sandwich on the ground in protest. All I could think was, ‘I’m failing.’
“Mom shamers lined up with judgemental eyes. The grocery line was never-ending. My friend and her sweet, well-behaved daughter began quietly cleaning up their lunch. ‘If you do it this way, they wouldn’t be acting like that.’ Within five minutes, I raised my white flag.”
‘Your sister is missing! She was last seen days ago wandering downtown. The police won’t file a missing person’s report!’ I got on the next plane home, determined to find her myself.’
“After years of searching for my sister, my stepdad asked me, ‘How long are you prepared to keep looking for her?’ She was gone, without a trace.”
‘THIS is real life’ Mom’s emotional plea when ‘you feel like you’re going insane’ as a parent
“THIS is the dark side of parenting they don’t tell you about in books.”
Ten true things about the first year of motherhood
“Postpartum bodies are squashy and wobbly and dimpled and stretched and foreign and embarrassing and difficult and painful and gorgeously imperfect, and they tend to stay that way for quite awhile. You made a human. Now make your peace.”
‘There’s no way I’d give them my expensive lunch meat. I’m going to buy Jif for when they come over.’: Woman ‘horrified’ by the conversation she overheard in Starbucks
“I was horrified. This woman in her Lululemons, drinking her expensive Starbucks latte was complaining about feeding children?! Then she went on to say that she wants to teach a kindness class in her daughter’s class. Which I found even more confusing. I was that neighborhood kid. I relied on my neighbors to help me because my parents (who worked hard and are wonderful) sometimes couldn’t.”
