“Alcohol was a coping skill, a mood enhancer, a party buffer. It was present at every family get together I’ve been a part of. It was normal to BYOB to first holy communion lunches, summertime fires, and every Sunday after 8:30 a.m. mass. We were a drinking family and always have been.”
“The morning I received my 30-day sobriety chip, I took another pregnancy test, except this time it was positive. My daughter became my saving grace.”
“With 6 failed adoptions in 8 years, we were uncertain we’d have any more children.”
“Almost 6 years ago, I experienced this trauma. This was just a routine appointment. But as I sat in that waiting room, I felt my heart speed up. I felt my chest tighten.”
“Instead of feeling supported in disclosing my mental health history, I felt defensive. Called out by the form. Turned off by its questions. Ashamed.”
“‘Don’t get your hopes up. The sample didn’t look good. In fact, I’m not even going to charge you for the visit today.’ As we left the clinic, I had an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. This was never going to work.”
“Hannah insisted she visit her sister in the hospital twice a day, and was the only one who could successfully feed her. The doctors and nurses worked around the clock to make sure Arabella was okay. But Hannah was the surprise helper we didn’t know we needed.”
“It’s okay to admit this load you are carrying is too heavy at times, and it’s okay to be tired of it all.”
“Not willing to accept this as my new normal or wait for happiness to just HAPPEN to me, I started being honest with myself and others and decided to depend on the only person that could truly control my happiness… ME.”
“There, for the very first time, was Andrew’s entire diagnostic story. The decoder we’ve been searching for most of his life. Every milestone missed, every seizure suffered, every hospitalization, every moment his body betrayed him, every detail down to his clumsy gait, summarized in 12pt Times New Roman.”
