“Staying out till 2 a.m. is what he did. Multiple times a week. Which left me home alone. At first it didn’t really bother me. I would have a glass of wine, watch my favorite crime show or a documentary he’d hate, and head to bed by 10 p.m. But after a while it became lonely. And loneliness in a marriage is a recipe for disaster.”
‘I could’ve delivered a dead baby. It could’ve been worse.’ STOP. Stop comparing tragedies.’: Woman faces miscarriage, divorce, and adoption scam, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’
‘Driving up to the school, I was overcome with emotions. It’s finally over. What now?’: Mom reminds us to ‘salute our children for their hard work. This hasn’t been easy on them either’
“Strangely enough, I felt a bit of grief this thing we had between the two of us was gone. I looked at my sweet, tender-hearted daughter and I felt so very proud of her. She had been through so much. She did it.”
‘I watched as my mom was zipped up in a body bag and carried away. This is the end of us.’: Woman loses mom to Stage 4 colon cancer, ‘My mom would be angry if I didn’t make a beautiful life for myself’
“Instead of celebrating with pizza and cake on my 17th birthday, we sat in the hospital. My addict brother would steal my mom’s medication. A switch flipped in my brain. Suddenly, my wants and needs didn’t matter.”
‘I took my baby home to die. ‘There’s nothing more we can do.’ We were on our own.’: Single mom loses son to epilepsy, hydrocephaly, ‘I am brokenhearted that he’s not with me, but I am at peace’
“His body was saying, ‘This is too much. I can’t fight anymore.’”
‘I don’t want to deliver my baby in a car!’ I started to bawl. My baby’s foot was hanging out of my cervix.’: Woman gives birth to baby at 22 weeks, ‘I had no idea they saved tiny babies like mine’
“I felt fluid run down my leg. I panicked, bawling because I didn’t know what was happening. I was only 22 weeks and 2 days. The doctor gave me two options: He could be intubated or just lay on my chest for comfort care. I told her to try everything to save my baby.”
‘My mother and stepdad sent me with a strange man in the middle of the night. ‘Was I traded for drugs?’ I was ten years old.’: Woman overcomes childhood trauma and rape, ‘I learned the power of letting go’
“As I threw the rock into the river, I said, ‘I forgive you,’ letting go of all the pain and resentment I had been carrying. Don’t get me wrong… the people who abused me in my past, who were supposed to care for me and protect me, did NOT deserve my forgiveness.”
‘I still reach for him in bed. I still think I hear him coming in from work. I have to force myself to live.’: Widow suffering from PTSD says, ‘I can hear him telling me to get back up and fight’
“My anxiety hit a fever pitch. Yesterday, my child was happily climbing on rocks and pretending to be a cat with her friend by the water. I couldn’t shake the feeling something bad was going to happen. I was shaking out of my skin.”
‘When we finally kissed, I sat sobbing in my car. I hit rock bottom and lost everything. I needed to work on myself.’: Woman finds her happily ever after, ’The love you deserve will come to you when you’re ready’’
“Our paths crossed several more times over the next eight years but we were never ‘available’ at the same time. I hit my ‘rock bottom.’ Then, just before my 30th birthday, we reconnected once more.”
‘You’ll sit with your midwife and calmly place your order. ‘A 2-hour water birth, please,’ you’ll say, smiling toward her. The big day arrives, they’ve messed your order up, bad.’: Mom laughs at the reality of motherhood
“You realize you can’t shove them back in your womb, And there are no refunds allowed, so you gotta face up to your doom. Mother to mother, if I had to say one thing, it would be ‘buckle-up tight and stock up on the gin.”
‘We were certain this goat wouldn’t make it through the night. ‘Momma, I know it sounds silly, but I prayed for her.’ You can imagine my face when the goat stood up.’: Mom is reminded to ‘trust in the little things’
“One of our little goats was attacked by a dog. This goat kept getting out of the pasture, no matter how many times we put her back. Well, Saturday night, we weren’t fast enough.”