“We don’t need to look like we’re in our twenties… We’ve already been there, done that! We can be sexy and carefree while stepping into our second half of life.”
‘Would the gray hair accentuate every crinkle and wrinkle on my face?’ I hesitantly stepped forward into the magic.’: Pro-aging woman shares self-love journey
‘I got pregnant on a one-night stand with a guy I barely knew. I had zero respect for my body or myself.’: Woman shares celibacy journey, ‘I’m taking my body back’
“If I wanted to sleep with a man who wasn’t my boyfriend, I did just that. Sex became another drug for me. I drank to oblivion to erase the shame.”
‘Why do I feel the need to cover this up?’ I decided this was it. I went to the hairdresser, one last time.’: Woman embraces natural grays, ‘This journey is about more than hair’
“Just because a woman has grey hair doesn’t mean they have ‘let themselves go.’”
‘Are you willing to take in two more boys?’ They were filthy, skeletal. ‘We encourage you to bathe them immediately.’: Mom shares the beauty and heartbreak of foster care
“Along the way, many people have asked, ‘Why keep doing this? It’s painful.’ They need to know they are enough. They need to know they are worthy of safety and love. For every child we have loved and lost, we would do it all over again, in a heartbeat.”
‘Who is that tall man that now towers over her? Where is her little boy? How did it go so fast? She rests her read against his broad shoulder.’: Mom urges ‘remember how it all feels’
“The tiny newborn. The sweet toddler. The adventurous boy. The challenging teenager. The confident man. The doting father. She’s loved them all. And she knows that for as long as she lives, she’ll always remember how this feels.”
‘Be more patient with him when he cries.’: Mom shares trials of co-parenting, ‘Love them enough to let go sometimes’
“I wish she understood, ‘It’s important to watch him sleep, even if it means staying up a few minutes more.’ I wish I hugged her, because the empty space she felt when he was gone would soon be regularly vacant.”
‘Every day was a bloodbath. ‘It’s normal for teen girls.’ Little did I know, a storm was brewing on my insides.’: Endometriosis warrior shares 5-year journey to diagnosis
“By the time I was 14, I dreaded my period every month. I couldn’t leave the house in fear I’d leak through my clothes. The pain had me bedridden for days.”
‘My daughter was struggling with surgery when a young Marine reached out. ‘Pip has touched my life.’ He sent a package in the mail.’: Special needs mom thanks stranger for act of kindness
“A young Marine, from way across the seas, stumbled upon us. And he has no idea the magic he’s brought my kids ever since.”
‘We were told, ‘She may not be born breathing.’ Scared was an understatement.’: Mom gives birth to baby with DiGeorge syndrome, ‘She’s our miracle’
“There were so many unknowns. We were asked multiple times if we wanted to terminate. Everything about having our first baby felt not fair. We just wanted normalcy.”
‘I got a BODY PART amputated, and didn’t get a night stay at the hospital.’: Woman diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer living life ‘more intentionally’
“I was 36 years old. My focus became doing things that make me happy. There’s so much beauty around us if we open our eyes to see it.”
‘Seemingly irritated, they claimed my autistic son had ‘the highest needs of anyone in the school.’ The statement rocked me.’: Special needs mom urges ‘your system, not my boy, is failing’
“My beautiful boy is not failing your system by fitting into his own mold. Your system is failing him, and others like him, by drawing a line.”
‘I looked at myself and saw an old, washed-up woman with nothing to offer. I wanted to go to bed and not wake up.’: Woman shares self-discovery journey, ‘Life is a story we get to write’
“I had a divorce battle on my hands and two children to raise. It turned out no one was going to get me out of this mess. It was down to me to sort it out.”
‘My high was our son’s milestones, your high has was a piercing hot needle into a vein. I couldn’t save you.’: Special needs mom pens letter to ex-husband battling addiction
“I only had enough room on my life raft for our son. Caring for an addict and a child with severe special needs was not something I could do. You needed to help yourself first, before I could help you.”
‘You’re HUGE!’ I looked pregnant for MONTHS.’: Mom details postpartum life, ‘We hold ourselves to RIDICULOUS standards’
“I was induced and my baby was assisted out with episiotomy and forceps. I exclusively bottle fed from 8 weeks and felt like a failure for MONTHS.”
‘Me and my buddies lost our wives. This trip is our last hurrah.’ I couldn’t shake the feeling of sadness. I had to do something.’: Travel agents surprise veteran, friends with touching act of kindness
“Before I could even respond, I was met with a wave of other travel agents, one after another saying, ‘Put me down for $25.’ Within a few hours so many people, who have all had a terrible and fruitless year, had dug deep and offered to help.”
‘Why does he act like that?’ My home was a war zone. But I wouldn’t take back that time even if I could.’: Woman shares advice to new foster parents, ‘Find your people’
“That birth mother I met at the DHHS office? She and I could have easily traded places. I’d be a fool to believe I was called to love my children, and not their parents.”
‘I’m angry and sad, but NOT surprised.’: Asian woman urges ‘educate yourself’ after hate crimes
“My heart hurts knowing it could’ve been my family.”
Dear Society: Women Do Not Owe You Anything
“I was out for a run when a man angrily yelled from his porch, ‘You never say hello or even wave.’ He leaned forward in his chair looking quite annoyed.”
‘One day, a handsome teacher messaged me. The word ‘widower’ glared up at me. To be honest, I was scared.’: Mom shares journey blending families, ‘This is what faith looks like’
“I can’t explain when or how, but I knew this man and his children were special. I hadn’t found them by accident.”
‘I heard my mom sobbing in the background. ‘She has 12 months left to live.’ I fell to my knees, sobbing. I thought my parents were bulletproof.’: Woman shares grief journey after losing mom to brain tumor
“Although I had a husband and three children to care for, I was lost in darkness. I poured a bottle of lorazepam down my throat. I had eyes only for my mom and seeing her again.”
‘Do you need help?’ I noticed a tiny lady struggling with heavy trash bags. I could tell she was afraid as I approached her.’: Community rally to help elderly woman after multiple hate crimes
“As I was walked her home, I realized she had no door, just a piece of wood with a lock. Her house was so unbelievably wrecked I just felt like crying. ‘What happened?’ They took everything, destroyed her home, then burned it. She held no anger, no bitterness. Just pure kindness. ‘I knew God would find a way of sending some angels.'”
‘He dropped a bomb. ‘I have a girlfriend.’ His bags were packed.’: Woman recounts seeing ex-husband for the first time after divorce, ‘I survived’
“I saw the face of the person with whom I’d shared over a third of my life looking back at me. It was the first time I’d seen him in 9 months. ‘I kinda forgot you were a real person.’”
‘I was looking at all his cute little fingers and toes when I noticed webbing. My heart sank.’: Mom shares son’s Smith Lemli Opitz Syndrome diagnosis
“It felt like they ripped my baby out of my arms. I was all alone, sobbing, ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’”
How I Found Forgiveness After My Trauma-Fueled Childhood
“I was 8 years old when my mom called me inside from playing. ‘Your dad was using drugs, and it killed him.'”
‘She BETTER stay in her lane!’ It was NOT the introduction I was expecting.’: Woman learns to embrace son’s ‘bonus mom’
“All my walls came down. She was the perfect BONUS MOM. Her heart was as big as the smile which greeted me. For the first time, being a blended family didn’t seem so bad.”