Sonia Beltz is a former digital editor for Love What Matters based near Dayton, Ohio. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Iowa. In her free time, you can find her writing, reading, or researching random historical facts online. Follow her on Instagram at @skatbel.
‘Would you like to talk to our mom?’ I said, ‘Of course!’ We then saw each other and started to cry.”
“One pill would turn to 2, and 2 into 3, and on exceptionally bad days, 3 into 4. We knew this was the ‘worse,’ but we believed together we’d someday see the ‘better.’”
“I didn’t do it because I love pregnancy: I absolutely HATE pregnancy. I did it out of the love I have for ‘my person.’”
“I was crushed, realizing I’d committed a terrible ‘sin.’ I was scared my parents would find out and know I’d done something horrible! Instead, I silently carried that guilt.”
“’Is it okay for Black girls to be Elsa for Halloween?’ I said, ‘ANYONE can be Elsa! Even a boy!’ She cried, ‘They told me if I want to be Elsa, I should wash my dirty skin.’ I was FUMING.”
“I went into the hospital that day thinking my life was going to change for the better, but instead, it was worse than ANYONE could’ve imagined. I had to take control and shock EVERYONE.”
“My knuckles were white as I gripped the steering wheel. I was fighting back tears. My 6-year-old foster child sat in the backseat, oblivious. The system was failing him and no one cared.”
“I overdosed on a drug cocktail a 350-pound linebacker shouldn’t have survived.”
“‘You’re the ONLY home in the county who can take all 3.’ No pressure, right? After a few volleys, we told each other these kids don’t have anyone else.”
“I was a mother who was too exhausted to mother, a creative who could not create, and a woman on fire to serve, but unable.”
