“I hadn’t laid eyes on him for at least 10 minutes — or had it been 20? Immediately, everything around me swirled and blurred. The only thing in focus was the red flag flapping violently above the lifeguard station. The white-capped waves were deafening. Horrible scenarios flooded my mind.”
‘I lost one of my kids. As the crowd dispersed, two of my boys walked over to me, but my son was nowhere to be seen. I called his name, paralyzed in fear.’
‘I ran to the laundry room. Something told me to put my hands in the washing machine. I resisted. No way. Are you kidding me? Of course he is not in the washing machine.’
“I had a top loading washer and always let Ollie help me throw a few items in – don’t most moms let their kids help? I called his name. No answer. Silence. Nothing. The air began to be very thick. How could this have happened with me only 15 feet away, in the same house?!”
‘This is how her ‘boyfriend’ shows her he loves her. He is on the run. Her children are in CPS custody. Our family is devastated.’
“This is my middle daughter, Jessica. She is on life support as a result of Domestic Violence. Her body is covered with bruises, her head has large knots, and she was strangled to death. We are waiting to see if we will have our beautiful lady back.”
‘It’s THIS stage, you first said the words, ‘Lub you too, mommy.’ You reach for mommy’s hand, then give her a sweet smile. You sing at the top of your lungs in your car seat.’
“Everyone warned me about the toddler years. The ‘terrible twos.’ The tantrums. The tears. All the dramatics. And right now, we’re in it. But let me tell you a little secret about this ‘trying stage.’”
‘She was at a dead stop in traffic. She looked in her rear-view mirror and saw a car coming full speed behind her. She braced herself.’
“When he finally looked up from his phone, it was too late. I’m sure the message is clear here.”
‘We were watching a movie and eating popcorn. He had small choking episode but was fine. We didn’t see anything come out, so we assumed he swallowed it.’
“The next day he still had a weird sounding cough. I assumed he was catching the crud we had all been going through. As the evening came, he felt warm and was super fussy. He had a fever. I called my pediatrician and said Nash needs to be seen ASAP. Thank goodness I trusted my instincts.”
‘I wish I could prepare you for the news you’ll receive just hours after snapping this blissful picture. I know you’ve been worried about the size of your happy baby’s belly.’
“He’s such a happy, calm baby. He’s never been sick, so you know there has to be an easy solution to whatever is causing his belly to appear big… A simple solution that may bring a few small moments of fear and discomfort, but after that, all will be fine.”
‘Picture 1 is at my grandmother’s funeral. Picture 2 is at my sister’s funeral. In both, my sister is in the exact same church, wearing the exact same shirt, laying in the exact same kind of casket.’
“Little did I know when I took the first picture of my inappropriately hilarious, charismatic little sister, that it would end up having such a surreal meaning behind it just a few short months later…”
‘My boyfriend closed-fist punched me in the face, knocking me off my feet. My 230-pound boyfriend split open my face. The past 6 months of my life have felt like a slow torture.’
“My boyfriend of almost 2 years came home from a 7-month deployment. Two days after he had been back, I found out he had not been faithful. When I found out, I proceeded to ask him to leave. He refused.”
‘When they come out, everyone is gone. Their father is nowhere in sight. Michael looks nervous. ‘What are we going to do?’ ‘I don’t know.’ They both begin to panic.’
“They have no way of contacting their parents. Michael is getting nervous. ‘We’re going to ask that policeman if we can use his phone,’ she says bravely. They approach the officer. Michael is afraid to speak. So is Emma.”
