LJ Herman is a former editor at Love What Matters and lives in Colorado. LJ is a concert, ticket and technology enthusiast. He has seen the Dave Mathews Band over one hundred times and counting.
‘It was a simple act of kindness she didn’t have to offer, as I’d never even met her in person. But she did.’: Act of kindness provides strength to let go and heal after loss of fiance
“I kept these wedding dresses hanging in my closet… a reminder of all the things in life I wouldn’t get. A reminder I was angry. And sad. And I had every right to be, because I was robbed of my happily ever after. If I couldn’t have it, I was going to hold on to every single piece I could.”
‘I just found a giant bottle of vodka in their closet, so I’m pretty freaked out.’ Parenting teenagers makes us into liars. We show the shiny side. We can no longer spill our guts.’: Mom says parents to teens ‘need a village more than ever’
“All this may be true, but we are all only telling one side of the story.”
‘Dinner is cooked when he gets home. I fix his plate, then mine. No, I don’t live in the dark ages.’: Woman claims ‘I show love through actions’
“I hear people say, ‘My husband can fix his own plate.’ So can mine. ‘My husband can get himself dressed and ready.’ So can mine. I am up at 6:45 a.m. and don’t sit down to relax till after 7 p.m.”
‘His life isn’t celebrated the same because of how he died. Everyone reminded me, ‘Once an addict, always an addict.’: Widowed mom of 5 says ‘I never knew the addict, I knew the man who won my heart’
“I am reminded by everyone, ‘He made a choice. He didn’t have to take that pill, whether he knew it was laced or not. So, stop being sad.’”
‘My mom tried to manipulate me to break up with my girlfriend. She saw how happy I was. I arrived to find all my stuff on the front lawn.’: Son details the fallout from his narcissistic mother
“My mother didn’t want to get to know her. After all, I was my mother’s son, not my girlfriend’s boyfriend. ‘Why does SHE deserve a ticket, she won’t even be around forever?’ I arrived to find all my stuff thrown on her front lawn. There was a note on the message board: ‘I’d like to dig a hole in her backyard and bury your girlfriend in it.’”
‘She came to us asking why she felt so much anger. Jeremy gave her a hammer. The slightest thing sets her off, boiling just under the surface.’: Daughter ‘relieved to know she wasn’t alone’ after parents help her to ‘release anger safely’
“Our 12-year-old has been struggling with anger lately, erupting when the slightest thing sets her off. ‘Why do I feel this way?’ We found an old desk on the side of the road. Jeremy gave her a hammer. We wanted her to dismantle it. It went faster than I anticipated.”
‘He never asked why we needed the help, he simply said, ‘Things will get better.’: After a miscarriage and husband’s layoff, woman says, ‘Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.’
“Our life has been a series of indescribable highs and unspeakable lows. We welcomed my baby half-sister in the world and into our home. The father we shared died and we gained custody. I was in the midst of a miscarriage. We were heartbroken. I don’t know if I’ve felt lower than I did the day we traveled 40 minutes to a food bank just so we could eat.”
‘We arrived at the checkout. I’d left my wallet in the truck. In my rush, my daughter tripped and skinned her knee as we raced out the door.’: Mom says ‘our children repeat what they hear’
“I apologized and raced out of the store to get my bank card. In my rush, my daughter tripped and skinned her knee. She cried as I scooped her up. I tried to comfort her while drowning in shame. We discovered that the baggers had unloaded our entire cart. His response brought tears to my eyes. It had been an evening fraught with failure.”
‘I left a toxic relationship, loaded up whatever I could fit in my 2-door coupe, and moved to a state where I knew no one.’: Mom says ‘the true fairytale on Valentine’s Day is that I found myself’
“Pretty soon social media will be overflowing with hearts, flowers, and all sorts of mushy feelings. Bless us, we love a good commercialized holiday. But my heart is with the ones who are single, unsettled, and still searching. To the wife who sent her spouse to work today without a kiss, because there’s so much distance between them right now it’s insufferable.”
‘I’d been holding back tears all morning. In public, they fell out. A sweet friend saw me go down. She was behind me in seconds.’: Widow urges people to talk about mental health and be ok showing grief in public
“She comforted me while I fell apart. And then, it happened. What always happens when I let anyone see any emotion other than ‘ok’: I got irrationally mad at myself for crying in public. Losing my husband and becoming the soul provider for our daughter has sent me into a deep panic.”