“I began partying with a different crowd, mixing Xanax and vodka to help me cope. It was during this time I met the father. I was introduced to the reality of just how mean people can be.”
‘My son was taken away from me and placed with his grandparents while his father sat in jail. I would come face to face with the devil himself’: Mom recounts struggles with alcoholism, ‘It’s not an easy road’
‘When marriage gets hard, I picture myself old. Grayed hair, shriveled little body, with feet difficult to put in front of the other.’: Woman says ‘our love will be the greatest accomplishment of our lives’
“When my body begins to wear down from sickness or old age, I want you there with me. When I’m scared, resting in a bed, wondering if I’ll really make it to heaven, I want you there with me, looking me right in the eye, reassuring me that it’s okay to leave.”
‘I got pregnant. I can still hear my mom say, ‘Oh Jennifer!’ when I told her.’: Woman credits husband for ‘saving her life’ and finally receiving bipolar diagnoses
“What the people at church did to me was beyond what I even knew until MANY years later. I was a good kid. But I look at it differently now. I wasn’t bad; I had an illness.”
‘I was a single mom with 2 little girls. Out of nowhere, this man walks into my life. What did HE truly want? Yes, he is a great man.’: Wife shares appreciation for husband’s sacrifices
“When I met him, he had a truck. A truck he loved and worked hard for. He traded it in for a family car. I didn’t ask him to. He just did it. It also tells me we are in a new phase of life. This man has been handed NOTHING.”
‘I’ve been the girl who didn’t fit in. I’m too much for some people and not enough for others. I’ve been the girl who wondered if she’d make it, and the girl who did.’: Mom loves who she is, ‘I won’t change for anyone’
“I’m the girl who is on time for this but late for that, and I’ll probably stop for an overpriced iced coffee on the way. I’m moody in the morning and in my best spirits when I know it’s Friday. I’m too tall for high heels and too short to reach the diapers on the top shelf at Walmart. I’m still not skinny enough to fit inside that crack between the washer and dryer. I’m that girl.”
‘Wedding rings are a symbol of ownership. We don’t wear them. I don’t identify with the word ‘wife.’: Married woman talks terms of marriage, ‘We are in a partnership’
“I am a fully committed feminist, and will kill a bug if I need to. He doesn’t determine my happiness. The husband is the boss, the father gives away the daughter. I don’t identify with any of it.”
‘Every time the needle pierced my skin, I stared at the ceiling, trying to stay breathing and conscious. My wait for results was unbearably long. Then, I announced, ‘We’re adopting a piano!’: Cancer patient says, ‘I didn’t have control, but I did have a piano’
“Someone in our neighborhood was getting rid of one. Nothing felt in my control. At 8:30 a.m. that morning, I announced to Brian that we were adopting a piano. Immediately.”
‘I searched through his phone after the constant lies. Now, my heart no longer races every time a phone ‘dings.’: Woman says ‘there is a person out there who will treat you like treasure’
“As trash, I questioned my self worth. I lost my spark, my wit, my humor, and my way of life. Then I met my husband. My spark started to return.”
‘He said she got in her vehicle and got on her phone and pulled off to an area near the gas station. Within minutes police cars pulled in and surrounded him.’: Woman recounts husband’s experience with racism ‘He came home a changed man. I am a changed woman’
“My husband wanted to do me a favor one night when he got home late from work. While there, an older white woman was at a pump across from him and he noticed she appeared very nervous and stared at him. He was told he fit a description. They asked whose car he was driving. He was told he could not leave. He was told the description was simply a black man. He came home a changed man.”
‘Tonight, my boyfriend said ‘thank you for cooking’ after I put frozen chicken strips in the oven.’: Woman urges ‘it’s never too late to find someone who appreciates you’
“One time, I spent 3 hours cooking an extravagant meal for a man only to be told, ‘I don’t really like that. I think I want Wendy’s tonight.’ It’s never too late to find someone who appreciates you, who you can appreciate back. WAIT for what you deserve.”
