“I lay in premature labor at 17 years old, as If I wasn’t terrified enough already. I made a decision that evening as I laid in the hospital bed ready to bring my son into the world. I was going to prove that doctor wrong. I was going to grow up in the next few hours and prepare myself to raise this child as an adult, not a teenager. This boy was going to become my entire world and I was going to be his. And while I wasn’t sure how difficult the journey was going to be, I was going to take it.”
“It doesn’t let me stop. Ever. Once a worry has made its way inside my mind, it’s trapped there. It lives there. It comes on strong like a wave crashing down over my head.”
“He had been complaining about his back hurting Does he have a UTI?” Then what to my wondering eyes should appear but a little ole Starburst jelly bean…”
“This was something I thought I had prevented. I don’t want to see another baby go through this. The doctors told me it’s very common in this area, but this is the first I have ever heard of it.”
“I lost my best friend to a heroin overdose. Grief stricken, I wanted to see what was sooooo great about dope that people would risk their lives for it.”
“I would faint up to 20 times a day, couldn’t eat more than clear liquids and struggled to even get off the couch. Everyone shed an extra tear at the ‘in sickness and in health’ part of our vows.”
“I rapidly started to gain weight. I’m talking double-digit, rapid weight gain. No matter what I did to get rid of it, I kept packing it on. Each month, I was waiting longer and longer for my cycle. I said to the operator, ‘I am upstairs, last door on the right. I am losing a lot of blood rapidly. Please hurry.’ I don’t remember speaking after that.”
“She’s so big. How much does she weigh?”
“My name’s Erik, and I’m an alcoholic.”
“It was cancer, and had spread. Here I was, married to the woman I will spend the rest of my life with, worried about how much of this new life my mother would be able to see.”
