“Sometimes during the week, I’ll be exhausted. Just completely worn out from the day. I’ll come home, and Adam will have supper cooked. Usually, I clean up the dishes, and we take turns with baby baths/bedtime routines. But I have a complete pass on responsibilities when I really need it. All I say is, ‘I’m going hunting.’ Adam just smiles and nods.”
‘I go hunting. This is a picture of me hunting tonight. No guns. No animals. But I assure you, I am hunting. Let me explain.’: Woman’s version of hunting is self care, husband supports her, ‘He knows I need it’
‘Gabrielle, look at me.’ I burst into tears and told her I was struggling. ‘That’s it. I’m coming over. I’m taking the baby. You are going to eat and shower!’: Overwhelmed new mom thankful to friend for ‘showing the hell up’
“She could see I was avoiding eye contact. She showed up to my house, took my baby. I stood there, staring at her and my baby. Like, ‘What do I do now?’ She looked at me and said, ‘We are fine! GO TAKE A SHOWER. I know what I’m doing!’ Sometimes the kind of love I need is this.”
‘You should feel lucky to be with me. No one else would love you.’ My first year of marriage wasn’t ‘rough.’ It was hell.’: Woman leaves ‘prince charming’ abuser to advocate for others, ‘I feel freer than I ever have in my life.’
“‘How much longer are you willing to live like this?’ My mind screamed. This CHRISTIAN counselor was introducing the option of me leaving my husband. ‘He is a narcissist. This won’t stop.’ He was driving extremely fast and irresponsibly down the highway. I was crying, begging him to stop. Then he’d take pride in being the one to ‘comfort’ me. I didn’t believe in divorce. What were my options? Lifelong suffering? It dawned on me – I was being treated horribly. I deserved so much better.”
‘My husband and I married. ‘I’m going to be a stay-at-home mom,’ I declared. With little push-back from him, out popped 2 children.’: SAHM’s candid feelings on feeling ‘horribly unseen’
“I proceeded with my plan to be Susie Homemaker meets Carol Brady. But no one was around to witness it. I was with another human all day, but felt horribly unseen. I was over-touched, but not talked to enough. I’d been constantly moving, but never really exercised my mind. I often found myself staring at the clock, willing the magical sound of the garage door to arrive.”
‘It’s day 721 of not seeing you. You aren’t something we can pack up, put in a box and label with a Sharpie. You are our son.’: Mom’s grief journey after losing military son, ‘I miss you’
“The lady at the thrift store bravely asked about how we were doing. And you know what? I didn’t lie. I didn’t say good. I thought, ‘Wow, it has been over 2 years. How can that be?’ I found your box of baby clothes and the blankets Grandma made you. You are everywhere here, and at times I don’t want to live in this place anymore.”
‘We were miserable. We argued every night. The tension was terrible. And then it was Christmas break. I honestly was nervous.’: Wife realizes being together ‘all day’ was ‘exactly’ what she and husband needed
“My husband and I were literally at each other’s throats. I was struggling with feeling like a single mom because he was so busy with his job. He tried in his own way. I should have voiced things more so he knew how to help me, and I didn’t. I just expected him to know. That wasn’t fair to him.”
‘Here buddy, I can help you down.’ The man I’d tried to wave around us couldn’t hold it in any longer. He was obviously annoyed.’: Mom urges importance of teaching kids lessons by letting them do things on their own
“I met his eyes and told him nicely, ‘He doesn’t need help, he needs time to problem solve. Why don’t you go around us? We may take a minute and I don’t want to hold you up.’ He mumbled something, obviously annoyed that I didn’t just hoist the kid down myself. I was standing there to guard against danger.”
‘I chose to wear headphones. I didn’t want to hear or see Lily, afraid she would die. I kept my eyes affixed on my husband.’: Parents who lost twin daughter navigate marriage through tragedy, ‘We weren’t remotely prepared for what lay ahead’
“My husband encouraged me to look at my 1-pound daughter. If Lily died, we agreed to sell all our belongings and move to a beach in Hawaii, disappearing until we felt strong enough to return – but Pat knew Lily was strong enough to survive. I had intense, terrifying thoughts. This is not what we anticipated when we took our vows, but we faced each day together. We’ve come so far from stupid teenagers breaking curfew for 5 more minutes together, but if they could look ahead, I know they’d be pretty damn proud of us, too.”
‘I was at your house earlier getting my car seat and I just can’t believe how messy your house is! I don’t know how you all live like that!’: Working mom gets receives criticism on her ‘messy house’ at worst possible moment
“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t have time to clean the house to perfection every day. My phone dings. It’s my mother.”
‘I feel off. It could be minor. I don’t know. I just know something is off.’ My friend diagnosed me with perimenopause. ‘That’s not what I’m dealing with.’: Woman anxiously awaits results over holidays to see if cancer has returned, ‘We don’t want to worry our kids’
“Christmas feels different this year. I’m having a really hard time getting into the holiday spirit. Hours after getting my pelvic ultrasound done, my phone rang.You never want to hear words like complex, stat, and concern from your doctor. I decided to not tell a soul. I thought I was being brave. I thought I was saving others from getting all worked up. I thought I was being selfless. Ryan and I have been talking about when to tell our kids, or if we even should.”
