“With a brilliant smile the cashier said, ‘You made my day.’ As I walked out of the store, holding my daughter’s hand, I stole a glance back at the young woman. Her energy was brighter now than it had been when we first entered her line. In this very moment, my daughter learned the power in raising others up.”
‘Tell her,’ I whispered to my daughter as she pressed her body against mine. The cashier’s face lit up.’: Mom shares beautiful moment daughter learns ‘the power in raising others up’
‘No boy? Their daddy is going to have a hard time when they are teens, watch out!’: Mom to four girls powerfully responds to gender remarks from strangers, urges ‘words matter’
“At first it didn’t bother me, the stares or the questions, but then it started to chip away at me. With each comment, my daughters would silently absorb a stranger making me feel less because we were a large family of girls. With each question, my daughters would internalize something they couldn’t yet grasp.”
‘We received the call. ‘You’re the chosen home for a girl and boy ages 1 and 2.’ DHS labeled their case ‘Shocking and Heinous.’: Mom candidly shares emotional sibling adoption journey
“They had been taken away from all they knew, too young to understand what was happening. Too young to ask why. They had no idea who we were and why they were in our home. It didn’t matter what color our skin was, how much money we had, or where we lived – it was about love. It was about fighting to give them a better future.”
‘Mom, what’s wrong with that boy?’ She was looking at MY boy. It broke my heart forever.’: Mom advocates for son with rare genetic abnormality
“The doctor tried to comfort me. ‘I see it very often.’ Then she looked at him. What we found was worse than we could ever imagine.”
‘Your mom has taken her own life.’ The room spun as I screamed. If I had answered her call, could I have stopped her?’: Woman loses mom to suicide, advocates for mental health
“She ran away for the first time just before I turned 9. She drove straight to the airport and headed across the country. ‘I promise I’ll make it home for your birthday.’ She wasn’t there.”
‘He said, ‘You’re in the thick of it right now. One day you will be having coffee at the kitchen table in silence again. There’s an end.’: Mom to toddlers urges ‘I’m going to miss this’
“I looked down at my sweet smiling two-year-old, eyes following a bird in flight above. ‘But I’m going to miss this,’ I answered in a soft, quiet voice. Because gosh, I’m going to miss this.”
‘I looked in the mirror. ‘There’s no way I have anorexia. I’m not thin enough.’: Woman recovers from eating disorders, ‘I finally feel at home in my body
“In fourth grade, I remember looking over at the girl sitting next to me. ‘Why don’t I look like her?’ Her stomach was flat, not round like mine.”
‘They asked, ‘Does she taste salty?’ Panic began to sink in.’: Mom says daughter’s cystic fibrosis is ‘a mama’s worst nightmare’
“If you kissed Alexis on the forehead and licked your lips, it would taste like the ocean. All the blood drained from my face.“
‘What began as a single kitchen turned into 2,100 TONS of food.’: Man serves 15 million meals to homeless community during pandemic
“I had NO idea how I’d do it or where I’d get the money. I just knew I HAD to.”
‘Your pregnancy is extremely high-risk.’ No baby had ever survived this.’: Disabled mom survives near-fatal pregnancy, shares mental health journey
“My body has more implants and bionic body parts/organs than human parts. I’m not the mother I envisioned myself being, but I get out of bed anyway. For my kids, for my husband, and for myself.”
‘I sat in my mom’s kitchen, bawling. She was the first person brave enough to say, ‘You need to talk to a doctor.’: Mom shares journey with postpartum depression
“I’d drive my car to the river and sit there, thinking about how long it would take to break through the ice. I just wanted to leave this world. I never shared this with anyone.”
‘I had a once in a lifetime, freak emergency. When I tell doctors what happened, they don’t believe me.’: Chronic illness warrior urges ‘hold on to joy’
“I had severe pain on my right side that wouldn’t go away. I was taken to the ICU, where the fight of my life began. I was hospitalized for over 40 days while they tried to save me.”
‘When I told him, his response was, ‘And I could get hit by a bus.’ None of us know what the future holds.’: Woman with rare disorder lives with intention
“I’ll never forget having my whole life ahead of me one day and the next, being told, ‘There’s no cure. Your life expectancy is 5-10 years.’ I was scared and alone.”
‘I meet her in a stark waiting room. Her eyes settle on her newborn in the car seat I’m carrying.’: Woman shares relationship with son’s birth mom
“The nurse smiles, ‘Congratulations.’ A sick feeling fills my stomach, and I think of his birth mom. I pray he’ll never have to wonder who she is.”
‘There’s no telling when it will be the last time he needs me.’: Mom urges ‘savor and soak in’ early stages of motherhood
“I don’t want to miss it.”
‘I won’t raise my hand too high because it might upset somebody.’ I picked apart my every move.’: Woman with anxiety advocates for mental heath
“How could the president of a mental health awareness club struggle with her own mental health? I finally ran out of options.”
‘I stood in my kitchen in stunned silence. My boyfriend mopped up the blood.’: Woman diagnosed with rare autoimmune disease
“My face was the size of a jackfruit. I gasped for breath simply walking down a hall. The inflammation was so extreme the imaging was obscured by a sea of white, caused by bleeding in my skull.”
‘My weight, my sexuality, and my autism don’t define me. I do.’ Self-love advocate urges ‘be unapologetically you’
“It took me a long time to learn to love myself, but I finally know how.”
‘I picked up a pair of clippers, counted to three, and shaved it off. ‘There’s no going back now.’: Woman with hair loss urges ‘your hair doesn’t define you’
“I’d find people to do extensions that weren’t pricey salons. I found myself in people’s homes, mall salons, random back rooms at shops—you name it, I’ve probably been there. It was time to let my hair go.”
‘She’s just shy,’ they said. ‘She’ll grow out of it.’ All my life I felt like a misfit.’: Mom diagnosed with autism after son’s diagnosis
“I began to notice similarities between my son’s struggles and my own. Things that triggered him also triggered me. I had meltdowns just like he has meltdowns. I felt SEEN for the first time.”
‘Tina, you’re sick, like lifelong sick. This is a bad idea.’: Lupus warrior quits narcotics after 9 years, ‘I turned my anger into courage’
“The doctor clearly stated, ‘Though I am proud of you, I feel this is a huge mistake.’ I didn’t care. I was brave, different, one of a kind.”
I Got Pregnant At 41 Years Old Despite My IUD
“I thought about abortion. But one day, scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post from a childhood neighbor. She had a friend who, with her wife, were looking to adopt. People judged me. ‘Even though you hate the father, don’t hate the baby.’ I knew exactly what it felt like to want a baby more than anything and not be able to have one. It was my time to help.”
‘You’re pushing your gay AGENDA if we let you adopt.’: Gay dad adopts 2 kids, runs for mayor, ‘Love will ALWAYS drown out hate’
“Little did we know, we’d adopt TWO children instead of one. Although I don’t want to be looked at as ‘that gay dad,’ being a gay parent is a brave new world.”
I Let My Kids Miss A Couple Days Of School—Because Kids Need Mental Health Breaks, Too
“As a mom, I am always so caught up in making sure I get break. That I get time away. That I get lazy days. That I get treat days. I often forget my children need, and deserve them, too.”
‘When it was my turn to play dress-up, they paused. ‘Oh, Liz, there aren’t any princesses left.’ My confidence was shattered.’: Woman with Goldenhar Syndrome advocates for facial equality
“The blonde girl was Cinderella, the brunette was Belle. ‘Liz, you can be the mother.’ There was no princess that resembled what I looked like, no role for me to play.”