“Corona is exposing us. Exposing our weak sides, our dark sides. It’s peeling back our layers and tearing down our walls. It’s calling into question, ‘What is the church without a building? What is my worth without an income? How do we love despite risk?'”
‘We’ve all been exposed. Not necessarily to the virus, but BY the virus.’: Woman explains why Covid-19 is ‘tearing down our walls’
‘You’re on an island, Melanie; an island alone!’ She yelled at me. Her words were an attempt at shaming me.’: Woman claims that being an ‘island’ allows us to grow in ways we never could before
“Some say my actions will be frighteningly regrettable. Others say I should be ashamed. Don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of shame. The shame comes when people ask how my family is and I cannot tell them my dark truths. Surely, I’m the only one. So, I keep them inside. Until now.”
‘I messed up my eyebrows so bad I drew them on for years. I shave my face and toes.’: Woman shares candid truths about her insecurities to encourage others to live authentically
“I feel like I don’t financially contribute enough to my family. I yell. A lot. I talk to God every week, but I haven’t been to church in years. I dye my hair when I’m feeling stressed.”
‘My wife knew I was gay since I was 16. ‘You need to come out of the closet.’ She was right.’: Gay man in 10-year-long straight marriage comes out gay publicly, ‘We were trapped. Something had to give.’
“I realized I was gay early on. My parents didn’t know what to do. Lolly thought I should marry a prudish Mormon girl who didn’t want sex. I thought it might be better to marry someone like her – an open, communicative girl who DID want sex. For years, she deflected the possibility of BEING the girl I married, but when I dated one of her best friends in college, and she saw me playing the part of a ‘straight boyfriend,’ she began to see me in a different light. She began to fall in love with me.”
‘I didn’t remember I had my shirt off. ‘Mama, can I take a picture of Bowie?’ I vaguely remember shifting him on my hip so she’d see him better.’: Mom felt ‘disgusted’ after postpartum photos, says it’s ‘normal to mourn your body’
“Alas, a picture was taken. I scrolled through the 50 she took of us and I was not thrilled with what I was looking at. Why? Because of my stomach. The little house this baby grew in was the reason for my disgust. It took me 3 days to even look at those pictures again.”
‘My husband took me to Louis Vuitton and told me I could choose a purse for my birthday. Y’all, I’m not a Louis kinda gal.’: Woman declines husband’s offer, ‘I could have that bag or 3 months of paid babysitting’
“I went in the store and felt…a wee bit outta place. I quickly turned my rugged Fossil purse around so the sales people wouldn’t see the brand and know I didn’t belong. I found a sales person who offered me champagne. CHAMPAGNE? Then, I asked the price.”
‘I’m not attached to my baby. There, I said it.’
“It’s a harsh reality to admit, and I’m sure I’ll get a few gasps. But it’s the honest truth. And I know I’m not alone. I shrug off compliments from strangers about my pregnancy. This is my coping mechanism.”
‘I married the man of my dreams, created a family, and realized after 9 years we weren’t able to pray the gay away.’: Couple divorce and become best friends, ‘our lives drastically changed in the most beautiful way’
“He pulled me aside and told me he ‘struggled’ with homosexuality. My response: ‘Wow, you’re going to need a really strong wife!’ For the very first time, Kyle actually said out loud, ‘I am a gay man and I want to be with a man.’”
‘My husband and I met in a place called Dixie Chicken. Don’t tell my parents. To this day, they think we met in the Methodist church parking lot.’
“I was older. I was over the college scene. I’d been burned a few times. I had zero interest in boys, but my neighbor thought he was cute, so I agreed to go talk to him for her. Oops.”
‘My daughter, who is always listening, said, ‘I bet she will say, ‘OH, NO! It’s fine!’ But deep down, she will be angry at you.’ That is what my 9-year-old daughter has already learned. From me.’
“I lie awake after parties and wonder if my joke was taken the wrong way. Whose feelings did I hurt? I apologized to my daughter for my actions that lead her to think women had to hide. That pleasing people should be a top priority. The truth is enough.”
