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.
‘I crashed the party my daughter was at. I rolled up to hear, ‘drink, drink!’ I had visions of my sweet girl suspended in the air as she gulped beer.’: Widow urges other parents ‘let them enjoy the beauty of just being a kid’
“I raced to the front porch, paralyzed. Do I swing open the door and just run in? Do I call the cops? As I stood with my hand up in the knocking position, the door opened.”
‘I lost one of my kids. As the crowd dispersed, two of my boys walked over to me, but my son was nowhere to be seen. I called his name, paralyzed in fear.’
“I hadn’t laid eyes on him for at least 10 minutes — or had it been 20? Immediately, everything around me swirled and blurred. The only thing in focus was the red flag flapping violently above the lifeguard station. The white-capped waves were deafening. Horrible scenarios flooded my mind.”
‘This is me the day before I overdosed on heroin. I was almost off probation, a year out of jail, and I had a job.’
“That night, his mom texted me. ‘Do you know if he was using?,’ she asked. ‘I’m concerned. I texted him, but never got an answer back.’ The day before, he had come to my house.”
‘MOM! Something is wrong with Dad, he’s on the floor!’ Only 30 minutes prior, we were laughing about the fact my husband didn’t meet us at the pool.’: Widow shares 19-year love story after losing husband to heart attack
“We assumed his game of beach volleyball with our son wore him out, and he was tired and laid down for a quick rest. Little did we know those moments after his shower, he lay on the bathroom floor of our rental house; alone.”
‘A teacher called our daughter ‘lazy,’ put her outside, and forgot about her. We found her in full-blown panic.’: Mom creates ‘disability buttons’ for daughter with special needs, in tears after people ‘finally talk to her’
“My daughter called me from a store parking lot crying. She’d gone to the toy aisle and picked a Barbie. As she walked through the door, the security alarm went off. She was scared and didn’t know what to do. The security person came up to her abruptly and demanded a receipt. Her mind went blank. I watched videos online about a ‘special needs girl getting handcuffed’ at Walmart.”
‘Asheville?,’ he asked. I smiled. He promised it would be our next destination together. That dream died the day he did.’
“I am finally going to this special place, but he is not taking me there. Instead, I am taking him. It is there on that mountain I will let him go.”
‘This was the house we intended to raise our babies in. We were here to stay. But then he died.’
“I joke that we really bought my clawfoot tub and the house came with it. We had only moved in 6 months ago and we were so excited to make it our own. Then everything I thought was real disappeared before my eyes. Until I then I saw this.”
‘I lied to you,’ my fiancé said. ‘It has all been a lie.’ I felt sick to my stomach. He told me there had been another incident with the woman from work. Turns out, that was the LEAST of my problems.’
“‘I don’t want to get involved in a relationship with you until she is out of the picture,’ I told him. I asked him outright, ‘Is there anything I should be worried about?’ He reassured me, ‘no.’ I could see there was something on his mind. Nothing prepared me for what followed.”
‘She’s been promising her baby to 4 other families.’ We’d been scammed by our birth mother. Tears streaming, I hoped it was a bad dream. All I wanted was to be a mother.’
“At that same ultrasound, while holding the hand of another adoptive mother, she was texting me details of the visit and sex of the baby. She’d ‘panic’ and ask for more money so she wouldn’t change her mind and take him away from us. She knew all about me and my infertility. She knew exactly what she was doing.”
‘Do I need to separate you two?,’ the flight attendant asked. WHAT? I looked up, confused. My kid sniffled. ‘Nothing gets better at 30,000 feet,’ she continued.’: Mom hysterically recalls run-in with rude flight attendant
“My first thought was, ‘Does your ATTITUDE, Janet?’ This was all because my 16-year-old daughter had to leave her boyfriend behind to see her sister graduate from COLLEGE. I thought she would ballet leap onto the plane. I was wrong, friends. I was so wrong.”