“Telling my Nana my life wasn’t going to be what she expected, as I’d met the person I intended to marry and it was not a ‘he,’ was the most difficult moment of my life. I watched her heart break in front of me, fully aware I was the cause. Years later, at my wedding, she looked at me and said, ‘The LGBTQ community is the happiest group of people I’ve ever been part of.’ Today, Nana left us. My heart is broken.”
“10 minutes after childbirth, I began shaking. My temperature skyrocketed. It was recommended we remove our precious, new baby from my care, and into theirs. I handed her over. We weren’t allowed visitors. My husband could only visit me with protective gear. But hindsight is 20/20.”
“I woke up completely drenched in sweat. I called the COVID-19 hotline. 5 minutes later, a very condescending man came on. I was told I sounded ‘fine’ and was likely just ‘exaggerating’ the symptoms due to anxiety. I had a seizure. Blood had started pouring out of my mouth. I wouldn’t realize just how much until later.”
“It started with neglect and evolved into mental, emotional, and physical abuse. I endured this silently, for I thought it was what I was destined for. All the while, I was hearing voices and believing I was seeing dead people. My husband went along with my delusions. I truly thought I was a vampire and he encouraged it.”
“My body left me with 3 cysts. ‘It’s not fair,’ I cried to my husband. It’s been a year since we lost our miracle baby, and now our rainbow baby has been pushed further and further away. I am unsure of when my next treatment will be. Through tears of uncertainty, I decided to stop my birth control. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
“I became a nurse because of my mama. ‘We’re staying home for people like Nana because these germs would make her very, very sick.’ I played a tiny role in some of the very best and very worst days of people’s lives, while I quietly and achingly watched my own mama fight and fight.”
“A short time later, she came to my house with a shopping bag. From 6 feet away, she placed a bag of groceries and masks on the ground. I was an emotional wreck.”
“I cried over chicken today. Then the dreaded texts started coming. We planned on times when we could all talk. I tried really hard to come up with excuses to keep me off the call. I wanted nothing to do with it. The call lasted 4 freaking hours!”
“We know that some of you missed your graduation because you were being shipped off to Vietnam. We know it because you continue to tell us. And we thank you for your sacrifice, but it’s not a contest.”
“I worried about his aggressive outbursts. Earlier that day, I was talking with a friend who was working through her anxiety about leaving her family every shift to work in the NICU. Her anxiety was real. Mine was selfish and unplaced. I was disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to handle things better for Jack that day, or with my spouse.”
