“My fiancé hardly had the car in park. I jumped out and ran down the driveway toward my son. Before I could get to Josh, two police officers held me back. I cried out, ‘My baby, my baby, I want my baby!’ At that moment, I knew my worst nightmare had come true. My precious son was gone in a blink of an eye.”
‘Get here now! It’s bad, it’s real bad.’ I jumped out of bed and yelled, ‘We have to go now! Something has happened.’ I knelt down beside him. ‘I am so sorry son, I love you so much Joshua.’
‘When we’ve been told ‘sorry, this table’s full,’ is when we shine best. When we’ve been left out. That’s when we shine.’
“That’s when get out our hammer and nails and build a NEW table and include EVERYONE who has ever been left standing on the outside of the circle begging for an invitation.”
‘Oh wow, my thighs look huge in these jeans. After you have an eating disorder, they say you’ll never be normal again.’
“The next five minutes I spent trying to change the illusion of what I had just seen, pulling up the waist of my dark jeans a little higher, smoothing out the denim hoping that may give the twins a slimmer appearance. I pulled on the hem of my sweater a bit, pulling it down a little further than the widest part of my thighs, hoping once again to give a thinner illusion.”
‘Oh, hey girl! It’s me, YOU, in 2019! Sorry about tucking you away in a drawer for decades, but I am so happy to see you now. And LOOK at you!’
“Is that a wine cooler in your hand? Say no more. I can tell its strawberry daiquiri–flavored from its iconic redness. Also, judging by the thinness of those eyebrows, there is a tiny butterfly clip holding your hair in place, isn’t there? Good for you, keeping up with fashion and stuff!”
‘My friend called and said I had to fertilize my lawn. ‘What?,’ I asked. ‘You know, fertilizer.’ Visions of spreading cow crap bare-handed dance in my head. ‘It’s going to rain tomorrow, so do it today.’
“I said, ‘fine,’ all the while thinking, “this is dumb, this is dumb, this is dumb.’ Yet I realize this is one of those things I have to do now, on my own. So, I sent my daughter to the store to grab a bag, and $25.00 later, I’m ready to go. Or so I thought…”
‘I answered the phone. ‘Anne?’ No, this is her daughter.’ ‘Oh, I didn’t know she had a daughter.’ Did my mom not talk about me? Was I not good enough for her?’: Woman recounts relationship with her mother
“When she asked how far along I was, I told her, ‘just 3 weeks.’ She responded with, ‘Wow, you’re really on top of things.’ I felt like I loved Grace more? What was wrong with me? I didn’t tell anyone, not even my husband.”
‘It’s time to let go.’ They wrapped him in his Superman blanket. Daddy held his little boy, for the last time.’: Couple lose first child to extremely rare YARS2 disorder, ‘Every single day we miss his smell, his little personality’
“This was no ‘ear infection.’ How could I not have known? The walk to the hospital was silent. When we got to his room, he was still warm. It was the first time we’d seen him without tape, monitors, and wires all over. He was absolutely beautiful. I cried and kissed his cheeks. ‘I’m so proud of you. You were so strong. Thank you for letting me be your mommy.’ I cuddled him like I did the first day he was born. I gave him one final kiss, and handed him to his daddy.”
‘I called my mom to tell her about my dream. ‘Maybe you’re pregnant.’ I took a test. Two faint lines.’: Woman with alopecia elated over surprise pregnancy after public miscarriage
“In a Target bathroom, I took a pregnancy test. I just knew. I cried by myself in that stall, holding my belly, hoping everything would be okay this time. I kept the secret from my husband for 3 days to surprise him.”
‘I drove by the cemetery where I buried my best friend. I walked briskly to the place I remembered, but couldn’t find his headstone. Hot, surging anger coursed through my body.’
“I paced a few hundred yards along the plot, sure it was there. But none of the names on the headstones were his. My anger brought a prick of tears to my eyes. Grief struck. Maybe it was the next plot over? But the next plot didn’t reveal his headstone either.”
‘I cried and wept uncontrollably because of how he was going to be made fun of, and thought of as less or not worthy. I never want my child to feel that hurt and pain. The sadness was so deep, it crushed my soul.’
“I know something about one of the children you don’t. You see two children holding hands and playing on a playground. Nothing special, just cute as usual. Children playing like they usually do, like they should be doing. But it is so much more than just that.”