“Folks, I grew up near New York City. The only thing I know about chickens is how to bake them at 350 degrees. ‘Mom! Mom! We have to save it!’ It was getting dark quickly.”
‘What do you mean you found a lost CHICKEN?’ My 12-year-old and her best friend came bursting through our side door.’: Mom urges ‘savor moments of joy in the chaos’
‘I was carrying VHS tapes when I noticed a boy staring at me curiously. ‘Umm..’ he finally said, ‘Is there a reason you don’t just carry the whole box?’: Woman recalls first time meeting husband
“I stopped in my tracks. OMG. I was a moron. So embarrassing. What I didn’t know was him and I would be spending the next 32 years together.”
‘You should put her up for adoption.’ They thought my ‘deformities’ would ‘severely handicap’ me.’: Woman born with amniotic band syndrome is ‘not limited in ANY way’
“‘We just don’t know what to do.’ They thought I’d never be able to walk, run, or have normal brain function. I HAD to believe in myself.”
‘My 7-year-old said plainly, ‘Momma, there’s no heartbeat.’: Mom describes loss of child, ‘He made me aware of my strength’
“’Momma, I have an idea! What if after the doctor helps you have this baby, Jesus gives us a 6th one!’ He was hurting, too. I was so lucky to have raised this young man.”
Heartwarming Moment Boy With Autism Nonverbally Wishes Mom ‘Happy Birthday’
“I looked back to see the biggest smile on my sunshine boys face as he pointed to his ear and then to his iPad, nonverbally telling me to listen. I sobbed right there.”
‘Amber, what if we’re supposed to max out our home?’ We both froze.’: Couple adopts 7 kids from foster care, ‘We’re incredibly blessed’
“It hit us like a ton of bricks. For every biological child we had, there’d be one less child we’d be able to pull out of the system. It pushed us forward to finish the race.”
‘I gently lathered shampoo and rinsed. I felt a fullness in my fists, countless strands in tangled clumps among the suds.’: Woman with alopecia urges ‘losing hair doesn’t equal losing value’
“Over the following weeks, fishing clumps of hair from the drain became part of my routine. People commented, ‘What a waste of a body.’ This disease isn’t cruel, the stigma is.”
‘I licked her skin to see if it was salty. I cried, thinking my tiny baby was going to die before 20.’: First-time mom to daughter with cystic fibrosis says ‘she’s THRIVING’
“The bad seemed to outweigh the good. Hospital stays, lung transplants, endless medications, isolation. The first thing her team said was, ‘Don’t believe anything you read online.'”
‘They had to grow up too fast. I’m here to pick up where their dad left off.’: Bonus dad parenting grieving sons says ‘I’m helping them the best I know how’
“You won’t have all the answers. You won’t always do what’s right or what’s best for them. But you should ALWAYS respect and honor their lost parent.”
‘STOP using ‘bad’ to describe a person’s body part.’: Limb difference advocate urges ‘teach people to love their bodies’
“You’re teaching them if their body doesn’t look or function like most do, then it’s BAD.”
‘What other first-time mom has to go through this?’ This was going to be messy.’: Divorcee marries widower, adopts stepdaughter, ‘It was worth every hurdle’
“Now, it wasn’t just about him and me. It was about her, a little girl with a huge void in her life. I kept thinking, if this was my little girl, what would I want for her?”
‘To the woman in Target, softly touching baby clothes with your fingertips, and walking away without buying anything… I see you.’: Woman battling infertility urges ‘my heart is with you’
“To the woman at the baby shower who slips into the bathroom to hold back tears and walks back out with a smile on her face. To the woman who prays every morning, every night, and a little harder every Sunday at church for a baby that hasn’t come.”
‘I heard loud honking and a gruff, ‘COME ON!’ He refused to make eye contact with me.’: Mom to children with autism shares upsetting bus stop moment
“I yelled how proud I was so they could hear me through the window and made ‘I love you’ in sign language. I didn’t need him to get in trouble. I needed him to simply UNDERSTAND.”
‘To the world, my role is unimportant; a dime a dozen. But to my family, I am everything.’: Stay-at-home mom urges ‘my role IS essential’
“The walls of my home don’t boast a college diploma. My resume is short…VERY short. The infinite loads of dishes I wash have never garnered a medal, the hours I spend vacuuming never secure me a promotion. Forbes won’t be coming out with an article about us anytime soon.”
‘You can’t be THAT deaf. You can speak to me.’ My disability was always up for debate.’: Advocate urges ‘there’s no right or wrong way to be deaf’
“They pulled out my eardrums. ‘You’ll be permanently deaf by 30.’ I was devastated.”
‘Do you ever feel GUILTY for saying no?’: Woman urges ‘don’t put all you have into others’
“It’s not RUDE to say no.”
‘My sister just had a baby IN the car!’ I put my mouth over her small mouth and nose, and sucked the fluid out.’: Mom survives car accident, births daughter in car
“A woman rushed over to us, frantically asking, ‘Are you okay?’ I stammered, ‘What happened?’ My husband was screaming in a way I’d NEVER heard anyone scream.”
‘Something bad happened to Daddy on the boat. He’s not coming home.’ I watched their childhood innocence get stripped away.’: Widow loses husband in tragic accident
“A stranded boat would be spotted, only to find it wasn’t them. ‘Can you identify this hat? This flip flop? This fishing rod?’ It was mentally and emotionally exhausting.”
‘If someone cannot say yes, the answer is NO.’: Sexual assault survivor brings awareness to what isn’t considered consent
“Two boys made a decision FOR me.”
‘A diagnosis wouldn’t be worth it. You can’t do anything about it.’ I was angry. No one took me seriously.’: Chronic illness warrior urges ‘my pain is real’
“I kept telling my mom, ‘This isn’t anxiety.’ I was finally fighting for myself, yet people continued to ignore me. Instead of giving up, I fought harder.”
‘I dipped a breadstick in peanut butter and let Jake give it a lick. Minutes later, his tongue was hanging. His whole face and lips were so swollen, I could barely recognize him.’: Mom raises food allergy awareness after nearly losing son
“Terrified, I just kept asking, ‘Is he getting worse?’ I got the one word I feared the most: ‘Yes.’ All the numbers on his monitors were going crazy. I kept looking at them, then back at my little boy, who was barely recognizable. He was projectile vomiting everywhere; his little body was struggling.”
‘The doctor started with, ‘Do you remember the worst-case scenarios we discussed? We’re facing one of those.’: Mom welcomes rainbow baby
“My heart sank further as each anomaly was listed. ‘Your baby doesn’t have a pronounced jawline. His limbs hadn’t formed below his elbows and knees.'”
‘Why don’t you just relax?’: Couple battling infertility offers advice on how to support others
“I BEG you, STOP saying this to people trying to have a child.”
‘She looks so good!’ the nurse kept telling me. Yet tomorrow, surgeons would remove half her brain.’: Mom shares daughter’s Infantile Spasms diagnosis
“I injected her chubby thighs with steroids twice a day. My beautiful, happy baby gained 5 pounds in a month. She acted like she wanted to crawl out of her own skin.”
Sisters Are Nothing Short Of Angels On Earth
“I can only hope I know her in the next life, and the next, and the next. Because I will love her for eternity, and even that won’t be long enough.”