“We pulled over to grab some Chick-Fil-A. Everything seemed normal. My husband opened the car door. I wasn’t dolled up. My hair was undone. There was not a spec of makeup on me. I never expected what was going to happen next.”
‘I had 34 beautiful bridesmaids at my wedding! I wanted it to be special. Who doesn’t? I didn’t know my wedding would turn out the way it did. It just sort of happened.’
‘She sat next to her dying father, her best friend, and grabbed his hand. She whispered in his ear it was ‘ok to go.’ She would be alright. He could stop being in pain.’
“With her hair in a ponytail and her face stained with tears, she pet his hair while he gasped for air. She put a cross in his hand when she knew he was never coming back. She kissed him on the cheek and uttered ‘goodbye.’ She sat with him for an hour after he stopped breathing, making sure he was not alone.”
‘All I could think was, ‘Isn’t that what Dr. McDreamy does?’ My mom panicked. ‘Is this normal?’ He then asked if I frequently got migraines.’
“I was only 12, but got migraines a lot actually. It was to the point where people thought I was a hypochondriac. They would say, ‘she’s just a kid, why does she have migraines?”
‘Are you ok tonight?’ I was in the grocery store trying to pretend everything was OK, but it wasn’t. I was bawling my eyes out. ‘This isn’t a forever feeling.’ I’m so grateful to you.’
“I was afraid to leave my house without my husband. ‘I know this is hard for you,’ he would say. ‘Can you tell yourself that you’re safe?’ ‘No,’ I would respond. I reached out as a bit of a last-ditch effort, right there in the grocery store, tears running down my face. The response was incredible. Those women saved me.”
‘Ladies, find your person. Not the cutest diaper bag. Not the sleekest car or the fanciest preschool. Not the car seat that is also a stroller that is also a high chair.’: Woman stresses importance of having a best friend, ‘motherhood isn’t meant to traverse alone’
“Find the person that will come hold your baby when all you need is a shower. Find the person who your teenager can call when they have a problem they’re not yet ready to discuss with you. Find the person who is ready to drop everything for queso and margaritas after a hard day, no questions asked.”
‘Behind every successful woman is a tribe. A tribe of women who could choose to compete, but take the higher road of collaboration instead.’
“A tribe of other women who refuse to get jealous. Who refuse to compare. Who refuse to belittle, or go low. Who refuse to gossip, or leave out, or hurt just to watch her crumble under the pressure.”
‘My closest friends decided to leave me forever. My core group was gone. My heart was broken. New friends? It is terrifying to put yourself out there. Girls can be mean. Women can be vicious.’
“I can prepare and clean my house for 3 hours the 1st few times you come for a visit. But I can only pretend it is usually this clean for so long before you find out the truth. One day you will stop in because you forgot your sweater, and you will see the underwear one of my boys flung on the couch and the dinner dishes piled up from last night.”
‘I have a confession. I have a crippling fear my child will get taken.’
“The fear of losing one of my children at a park, or the zoo, or even the grocery store, has paralyzed me. The fear of someone taking one of them is so overwhelming, it is often easier and safer to just stay at home.”
‘Not sure who’s crazier. Me or the 13 mamas who decided to take on a group cake smash!’
“It was HILARIOUS. All the mama’s lined up with babies in hand. On the count of three they sat their babies down and ran behind me! It was total chaos, but absolutely adorable.”
‘Every evening, I see the same tired woman waiting to cross the street with her 4 kids. She holds onto the ones she can, and they hold onto the ones she can’t. I’m fascinated by this woman and her tribe.’
“Even though I need to get myself home to my own four babes, often I’ll wait, not pulling out of the parking lot until they’ve safely made it across. If I didn’t, I would lay in bed at night and worry: Had they made it? Were they still waiting? Were they safe?”
