“I cried over chicken today. Then the dreaded texts started coming. We planned on times when we could all talk. I tried really hard to come up with excuses to keep me off the call. I wanted nothing to do with it. The call lasted 4 freaking hours!”
‘The dreaded texts started coming in from my friends and their husbands about that Zoom call. My anxiety was through the roof.’: Woman says ‘don’t allow yourself to sink, rely on the people who love you’
‘Hold our hands. Let us grieve. Of course we know it could be worse.’: Woman says ‘it’s okay for college graduates to be sad’
“We know that some of you missed your graduation because you were being shipped off to Vietnam. We know it because you continue to tell us. And we thank you for your sacrifice, but it’s not a contest.”
‘Week two of quarantine, I was acting like my 4-year-old to my adult spouse. ‘Please don’t let this be my karma.’: Mom of three ‘wild ones’ reminds others ‘YOU ARE NOT ALONE’
“I worried about his aggressive outbursts. Earlier that day, I was talking with a friend who was working through her anxiety about leaving her family every shift to work in the NICU. Her anxiety was real. Mine was selfish and unplaced. I was disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to handle things better for Jack that day, or with my spouse.”
‘This morning I was tested for COVID-19. I am angry I had no choice but to be exposed to it.’: Woman exposed to virus against her will due to insurance malpractice, ‘We didn’t need to be in this position’
“Like everyone else I know, I’ve been practicing social distancing for 3 weeks now. But just over a week ago, I found myself in the Emergency Room. The one place that would put me most at risk of exposure. I’d been avoiding the grocery store, let alone an ER.”
‘I didn’t know there was a problem. If she’d been honest and said, ‘Hey, I don’t like you hanging out with my ex,’ we could have worked it out.’: Woman navigates adult friendships, boundaries after friends’ break up
“My friends Tina and Conner broke up. I won’t go into detail, but we all know the saying, ‘There are 3 sides to every story — his, hers, and the truth.’ Is it wrong to want to remain friends with a friend’s ex? He and my husband were friends, and honestly, we missed hanging out with the guy.”
‘Dear kids, I know we’re driving each other crazy, but I’m pretty sure we’ll look back on this time and miss it.’: Mom learns to ‘cherish every moment’ during quarantine
“We’ll miss staying in our PJs, playing old-fashioned games, enjoying dance parties, and baking 5 batches of cookies. When the house is empty one day, I know I’ll give anything to go back to the days when your fingerprints were all over the front glass door, the floors were sticky, and your presence was right within my reach.”
‘He’ll yell ‘Buh-bye, see you later!’ He is showing her his love by letting her in his bubble, despite how painful it is for him.’: Mom of autistic son says sibling’s bond ‘is like two pieces to a puzzle’
“Just the other day, I found myself admitting to another mom I’m not sure we would have chosen to have more kids had we known of the diagnosis before getting pregnant. The second the words came out of my mouth, I regretted it. He is showing her his love by letting her in his bubble, despite how painful it is for him.”
‘Today I received disappointing news. As a wife and mother I dropped the ball, and I failed.’: Woman says ‘our mental health is just as important as our physical health’ after friends’ act of kindness
“My husband works long hours at our local hospital. I haven’t seen another human being besides my stir-crazy toddlers in a long time. Before I knew it, I had comfort food, a bottle of wine, and two very missed faces on my lawn. They only stayed a few minutes and well over 6 feet away, but those few minutes gave me what I desperately needed to continue moving forward.”
‘I keep staring at our First Day of School pictures with tears of sorrow and emptiness. I know this is the right thing, but I also know it hurts.’: Mom says ‘our hearts and world are different’
“Today it was officially announced that the traditional academic school year is over. Students will not return to classrooms. Schools are closed indefinitely. Our son will not walk back into his kindergarten class. I know this is the right thing, but I also know this is hard.”
‘They all said I would be so happy. I wanted to be happy, but I also wanted a sandwich.’: Mom says post-birth ‘I definitely loved her, I just wasn’t sure I was IN love with her’
“What kind of horrible person am I? I was begging my husband to just get me out of there! ‘It’s going to be a joy like you’ve never felt.’ Instead I was frozen with fear. I was hemorrhaging. I was still searching her face for the joy I was supposed to be feeling. I felt guilty and ashamed.”
‘There’s probably something wrong with the baby. This is nature’s way of taking care of it.’ I bled all weekend.’: Woman loses child to ectopic pregnancy, ‘Hadn’t we been through enough? Where was our rainbow?’
“I waited for seven days. I bled all weekend, thinking for sure I miscarried. ‘But, it’s in your tube.’ she said. No need to sugarcoat that part. I could die if this wasn’t taken care of right away. My doctor is pro-life and if he could save a baby and a mother, he would.”
‘My toddler screams, ‘Mommy, CHANGE MY BUTT,’ during my conference calls.’: Mom says ‘today you’ve done enough, give yourself some grace’
“Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, moms everywhere are having a field day with their perfectly color-coordinated school sessions and craft projects. People are using this time to get fit, eat better, organize their homes and closets. Crossing off line items on their to-do lists like it’s their job – and then there is me.”
Remote Learning Doesn’t Work For All Students—Teacher Explains Why
“No business as usual. Because this is NOT usual.”
‘You will want to remember how it felt to wake up and ask, ‘What did I do yesterday? Did I shower? Did it rain?’: Woman says ‘remember these strange days when the horror wears off’
“I want you to remember this, because years from now, a lifetime from now, when we’re leaving somewhere, saying goodbye, when I’m hugging you tight and tighter still, and we both laugh, and yet I don’t let go—you will know why.”
‘Your colleague that keeps sharing memes, making light of the situation? They’re scared, grounding themselves through humor.’: Woman says ‘social distancing doesn’t mean turning our backs on one another’
“That mom upset about the playground closing? Those 30 minutes re-energized her. Now, she doesn’t know how she’ll make it through the day. The father with the overflowing cart? He’s not hoarding. He’s picking up groceries for his elderly mom and sick neighbor. We understand the importance of staying home, but we don’t understand what others are going through.”
‘In the middle of a heated conversation, a woman called me ‘cold.’ Her intent was to shame me, make me feel bad for not having an emotional response.’: Woman learns to embrace being ‘emotionally strong’
“I’m not a crier. I didn’t cry at my wedding. Her intent was to shame me. Let’s be honest, my b*tchy resting face doesn’t serve me well in situations like this.”
‘You are an excuse to be goofy at a time when the world is not. You are chubby-cheeked hope for the future, a constant reminder that life goes on.’: Dad shares ‘fairy tale’ IVF birth, ‘All that matters is the family we choose’
“You are a child of the COVID pandemic. When we wake you up from your crib, you look at us with such electric excitement that it is impossible not to start each day with love. You have shown us how to surrender to stillness, to stand together through fear, and to see the beauty in every moment. You are our reason to play and dance and keep smiling.”
‘The neurosurgeon apologized profusely, looked me in the eye and said, ‘You were right.’ She was walking all night, screaming bloody murder.’: Mom of chronically ill child urges parents ‘if you feel something is wrong, it probably is’
“During the day, she was completely normal. But at night she would pull out her hair and headbutt her bedroom wall in her sleep, begging me to ‘make it stop.’ She was deteriorating. I had to fight for answers. I had to beg for care for my very complex child. My gut was telling me something was being missed.”
‘It’s been 4 years since we last spoke. I heard you met someone new. Am I the bad guy, or does she know the truth and love you anyway?’: Woman abandoned by father says ‘you can’t base your self-love on who loves you’
“My dad walked out of my life when I was 20 and never looked back. I wonder if you saw me in the street, would wave or just keep walking. See, all of my favorite things about myself are you. Your sense of humor, your ability to make friends, and really, really good hair. I call someone else ‘my dad’ now.”
‘Riley is now 6 years old. He still does not speak. I always thought words were what mattered.’: Mom to son with autism says ‘I was lucky to be in his world, I just didn’t know it yet’
“Waiting for Riley to ‘tell’ me he loves me. Waiting for him to say mommy. Waiting for him to speak. How I wished I could get a moment in his head. When in reality what I really needed to do is take a step back and see was he showed me love in ways that don’t need words.”
‘Both on the verge of tears one announces, ‘He smacked me.’ I check for blood, bruising. ‘She was using too much toilet paper!’: Mom shares hilarious ‘chaos’ of quarantine with multiple kids
“I was sound asleep when I suddenly hear a knock at my bedroom door. My heart jumps. The pounding in my chest gets louder. Both children are standing at the door, both upset. ‘It’s 2:30 in the morning,’ I firmly reminded them. I am trying to figure out how I can self-isolate in my closet, but they keep finding me.”
‘Today I got called a boring mother, a crappy mother, a wonderful mother and that I was so much fun. All in a matter of hours.’: Mom urges ‘the last thing you need right now is guilt’
“If they spend their days on iPads while you gather your thoughts, it’s okay. If you wanna sit in your pajamas, eat brownies, and watch Frozen 2 on repeat all day, that’s OKAY. If the house looks like a bomb site, who gives a crap. Really. No one is going to visit you anyway.”
‘One more week of trying to put a smile on through tears. One more week of hearing you say, ‘Mommy, I can’t wait to kiss you again. How much longer will this be?’: Nurse mom says ‘cherish this time for those of us who can’t right now’
“One week of air hugs through Facetime. One more week ahead of wondering if this will be the week we’ll run out of PPE completely. One more week ahead of uncertainty, of masking up and walking into the unknown. We will come out on the other side.”
‘Make sure your kids have a schedule. But let them be kids. Homeschool. You don’t need to homeschool. Teach them life lessons instead. And common core.’: Woman candidly shares reality of mixed messages during pandemic
“Don’t let your kids outside. Don’t leave them home if you go out. Give them fresh air. Keep them home. Is that a cough? Is the tightness in your chest anxiety or the virus? Just breathe. But don’t be irresponsible. That’s not sickness that’s your fear. It’s okay, we’re all stressed. Treat yourself to some junk food. Not too much. You need to keep your immune system up.”
‘They tell me, ‘Go back to your country.’ Many of my patients ask to switch nurses. I’m not Chinese, and I was born and raised in America.’: Nurse vows to continue to fight ‘despite obstacles’
“I head into the shower and visciously scrub my skin until my eczema flares up to match the raw, peeling skin behind my ears from wearing masks all day. I sleep alone, without my special someone. I park my car in crevices to power nap on a makeshift foam mattress in the back of my trunk after a 12-hour shift to head right into another 8-hour shift. I will continue to fight, no matter the obstacles.”