Elizabeth Grow is an editor and content writer for Love What Matters. A graduate of Utah State University, she now lives in Las Vegas with her husband and two dogs. Elizabeth loves sharing stories that raise awareness for neglected populations within our society, particularly the mentally ill. She loves music, any kind of DIY craft project, and a good movie.
“With everything currently happening in the news, I began to realize I needed to have ‘the talk’ with my children very soon. To see the confusion on their faces hurt.”
“I say, ‘You’re not a bad person.’ I hold my boyfriend in my arms, feeling his normally strong chest shake uncontrollably with giant, heart wrenching sobs. There’s nothing I can do, except hold him tighter.”
“A woman with 6 children had a strong feeling a child was missing from their family and they were supposed to adopt. A week later, they were told a horrific story of a baby in Vietnam who had survived a bomb blast. It was as if we had both been waiting for each other thousands of miles apart.”
“I think to myself, ‘It sounds nice to pick up my guitar again. I can pull out some of my watercolors. I can call a friend.’ But a few days later, I still haven’t done any of those things. It feels overwhelming and pointless.”
“As a child, you always told me, ‘While I gave birth to your three brothers, it was you I picked.’ You loved me just as much as the three sons you birthed from your own body.”
“We were nationally unwanted children. It is not always the romantic picture of children being ‘saved.’ My only connection to my past is my genes.”
“I’m told, ‘You will never see research being done because you’re too rare.’ I have lived my life with fear, against a silently ticking clock.”
“‘Wow, she’s gained weight! She could use a little help. Is she even trying?’ You scroll through your feed and see SO MANY girls who are so much prettier than you. They have so many better options.”
“I saw dozens of smiling infants, cooing and adoring the hospital caregivers they know as ‘mamas.’ I witnessed an orphan, who we found in a diabetic coma, now thriving. The 6-year-old, who was severely emaciated, weighing only 9 pounds, now fully recovered and walking.”
“‘You need to stop what you’re doing or you’ll end up dead.’ I’d see him drive by with another woman. When my mom decided to divorce him, he didn’t show up. We stood at the court house and looked out the window from the top floor. The doctor approached my brother and I. ‘You have to make a decision to let him off the machines.’ We still had so many questions.”
