As a Digital Editor of Love What Matters, I'm here to pull on your heartstrings and make you smile. After spending nearly six years as a Digital Reporter for ABC News' "Good Morning America," I'm thrilled to continue sharing touching and inspiring stories that the world is so craving. We can all use more love in our lives -- now you've found the perfect place to get it.
“We decided we loved each other enough to let our marriage go. We’d no longer be spouses, but we’d always be a family. We ended our marriage with a divorce ceremony sharing vows to our 4 daughters, promising to always be a family, even if Mommy and Daddy aren’t married. Josh has found the love of his life, Carlos, who has become a cherished member of our family. Talk about miracles…my family is a fan of my gay ex-husband’s boyfriend!”
“We heard about twin boys with Shaken Baby Syndrome. It was a super stormy morning, we ended up having to pull off the interstate. I was dying to get to them. Everyone held back tears as long as we could. Malakai was scared. He had no idea who we were. He’d hardly look at my husband. He passed away less than 6 hours after saying goodbye to his siblings. I still would have driven to a teeny tiny town in the pouring rain to pick he and his twin up to bring them to their forever home.”
“Listen, I ain’t fancy. I like my purses from Walmart, my sandwiches from Subway, and my clothes from consignment. It’s a bit brazen, just like spending a dollar on something when you could spend $4 on the same dang thing elsewhere.”
“It was just another flight plan headed to Chicago, where my parents reside. I’d been anxiously awaiting to pick up my husband from this flight. We had finally set aside a weekend kid-free. Our hotel was booked, and it was just US! I parked in the cell phone lot at the airport awaiting his text to ‘pull around’ while the kiddos sat in the backseat. I received a call, but I didn’t answer. As soon as it went to voicemail, I got a text. ‘Andrew isn’t answering his phone.’”
“What they said next sent chills down my spine. ‘It seems he had it loaded and ready to threaten you in case you came back.’ He was arrested and booked that night. I loved this man, madly. I received a call from my husband in jail. ‘Hello?’ His response, ‘I’ll never forgive you for this. You ruined my life.’ I hung up. I knew I had to pull all my pieces together – if not for me, then for her. My daughter would never get to know this side of me.”
“The nurse at the jail came in with a serious look on her face. ‘Hunny, when was the last time you had sex?!’ I nonchalantly answered, ‘this morning.’ She then asks me, ‘Well, have you been sexually active a lot lately?!’ My fiancé had just gotten home from jail a month ago. ‘Your pregnancy test is positive.’ I broke down in tears, called my fiancé. ‘This is good Brianna. This is your chance to get clean and do the right thing. I finally get to be a dad, please don’t cry.’”
“I was gaining weight pretty quickly, 20 pounds in a year. I finally go back to the doctor, the one who didn’t listen. The one who was losing my trust. She was not happy to hear I had stopped using the Nuva Ring and again tried to get me to start using it. She also went on to fat shame me. After reading my new weight and asking, ‘What’s going on?,’ she shared with me her solution… No joke, this was from my doctor. It was cruel.”
“I still pray every time he walks out that door that he’ll walk back in. The sound of Velcro waking me up at 4 a.m. has become my favorite sound. I’m a ‘leo’ wife. I’ve cried to him, ‘It’s hard to send you out that door, to protect people who want to harm you.’ But it’s so much more than an adrenaline rush for him. This man is my strength through the struggles. We’re not just growing old together; we’re growing up together.”
“I remember every text I sent him that day, with no reply. I’ll never forget the terrible gut feeling I had when I found out 3 American soldiers had been killed. It was windy and the trees were blowing, as if Ben was giving me a sign. ‘It can’t be him, it’s finally our turn.’ I remember trying to go to sleep that night, but was tossing and turning. And then came the pounding on the door at 1 a.m.”
“I’ll never forget the moment we were told the news. ‘Sophia’s mouth, hands and feet are severely deformed. She might not survive birth.’ But she did. Her birth was the exact moment our lives changed forever. When they laid her on my chest, a voice in my mind said, ‘Comfort her, you need to comfort her.’ I was in shock as my little girl stared into my eyes. I’d never seen anyone like her.”
