‘I heard his sweet, crackly voice whisper, ‘Mama, I don’t want to go.’ He burst into tears and lunged toward me.’: Mom urges ‘cheer them on, congratulate them, tell them how proud you are’

“It was his very ‘fourst’ day of hockey. ‘What’s wrong, buddy? You were so excited.’ As I held my little trembling man, feeling his warm tears falling from his eyes onto my own cheek, every fiber of me felt his fear. A tiny part of me wanted to let him stay home. My heart ached as I watched the car pull out of the driveway.”

‘They wipe away tears on the tough days, they laugh with them on the good days. They build a confidence in our children we could not do ourselves.’: Mom thanks special needs teachers for their hard work, ‘They don’t get enough credit’

“I will never forget that first day having to leave him. I came home and cried because I was afraid he wouldn’t be understood. But he came out full of smiles and handed me a picture. One I knew he couldn’t have done by himself. He’d done it with his special needs assistant. I will always remember she said to me, ‘Mom, we did it together. And he chose red. I think it may be his color.’ And she was right. It still is.”

‘I was 6 weeks postpartum from a pregnancy that ended with me giving the baby up. ‘What’s wrong with me?’ I sat, tears rolling down my face.’: Surrogate says ‘there is no greater joy than making somebody else a mama’

“As it turns out, you can’t just walk into a fertility clinic and get knocked up with someone else’s baby on a whim. Next thing I knew, I was getting embryos transferred to my uterus from a couple I had only met on Skype. The intended mother stood at the foot of my hospital bed with one hand over her mouth. She held her breath as they lay his newborn body on my chest.”

‘I’m not scared of dying. I’m ready to go anytime God wants to take me.’ I began to cry. It was the first time I realized she wasn’t going to be here forever.’: Woman urges us to cherish time with our loved ones

“I still have dreams. They’re both still alive and I’m on the couch. My grandfather is smoking a cigar in the recliner and I can smell lunch cooking. She speaks to me so clearly and calls me ‘Al’ in her sweet, Southern voice as she asks if I’d like some sweet tea or a walk around the neighborhood. I miss the couch and the yard, the smells, and the sounds. What I wouldn’t give for one more meal, one more hug, one more anything.”

‘Your makeup looks like you worship Satan. Your entire appearance disgusts me.’: Abuse victim proudly says, ‘I am so much more than she said I was going to amount to’

“She would break out the large stitching needles and sit on my tiny form, peeling my fingernails away from my flesh. It didn’t matter what it was, she insulted it. ‘You will die alone,’ she said when I mentioned being in love with a girl. ‘I should have aborted you,’ when I talked back. Once puberty hit, it was game over for me. I couldn’t win no matter how hard I tried.”

‘I think I just bought a grief chair. I have a feeling it might become something one day.’: Woman’s impromptu purchase becomes symbolic of her grief after losing brother.

“I noticed this ugly wooden chair amongst some of the furniture for sale. I guess it just looked the way I felt, on the verge of snapping in some places. Much like grief, I was just going to have to live with this chair for a while. It’s become such a fitting analogy. At the end of the day, it was still just a broken place to sit.”

‘If you’re there, I need you to wake up. Your boys need you. Tell God you’re not ready.’ His eyelids fluttered. I blinked back tears.’: Woman says her husband is ‘truly is a walking miracle’ after motorcycle accident

“He had blood-soaked gauze around his head. ‘Is that a bone sticking out of his arm?’ Sean had been in a motorcycle accident. I sat beside his bed listening to the ventilator push air through his body. I need you. Your boys need you. I know you’re in there, but you have to show these doctors that. I’m going to go home. When I get back in the morning, you need to wake up.'”

‘She denied me pain medication. ‘Let’s get it over with. Your twins will be born and die.’ I was banned from seeing them.’: Mom births twin preemies, ‘I KNEW they were worth everything’

“The nurse wouldn’t let me hear their heartbeats. ‘It’s a waste of time. They will die.’ I couldn’t get up to pee or else Baby A would come out a little more. I felt so defeated. A new doctor walked in. ‘We’re going to another hospital and I’m coming with you!’ We were gone in seconds.”

‘She is simply too complicated.’ They didn’t see me as a little girl anymore. I was nothing but a body.’: Childhood leukemia survivor’s most important lesson, ‘Emotions are meant to be felt’

“I made a promise to myself. If I was cleared from having the chance of developing a second cancer, I’d get a tattoo. I met a lady who asked me a question that changed my life and perspective forever. ‘Why are you the way that you are?’ she asked. From then on, we became connected by the heart. We were able to help heal each other.”

‘I could feel her dark, navy lips saying, ‘Hi, Momma! I miss you!’ I couldn’t feel anything but the the weight of her dead body.’: Woman grieves 2-year anniversary of daughter’s death, ‘Grief will forever be part of our family’

“Grief looks like walking around Hobby Lobby with a beautiful, happy baby boy and tears running down my cheeks. How do you even pick flowers for your daughter’s grave? Can anything I buy show how much I love and miss her? My rainbow baby is making the cashier laugh. I wonder what she thinks I’m buying the flowers for, and if she can feel the grief roll off of me.”

‘Can’t you control him?’ People mistake his disabilities for a naughty child.’: Mom shares autistic son with global developmental delay, ‘ We celebrate every little milestone like it’s a lottery win’

“We waited for his buggy. We had to walk through passport control with him biting, hitting, and screaming as he does when he’s upset. On the plane, he was upset and screaming. We had comments like, ‘Should have brought my headphones.’ He is, in fact, disabled and not just being naughty.”

‘Honey, Red Lipstick must be earned,’ she stated. ‘Red Lipstick is a confidence that can only be achieved through time.’: Woman recounts her journey to ‘Red Lipstick Day at last’

“‘I cannot understand you. Let’s speak English, no?’ she said, impatiently. ‘Uh, okay.’ I replied. ‘Umm…I would like some red lipstick, please.’ She took a moment to look me over and I couldn’t help but get the feeling I was somehow inadequate. ‘I think you’d be more com-for-ta-ble in this co-lor…’ she said as she grabbed a lipstick tube off the shelf.”

‘That’s what maternity leave is. Take care of the baby. You don’t deserve a break.’ He threatened to kill me.’: Mom escapes abusive husband, mother-in-law to find love again, ‘Never give up on love, no matter how bad you’ve been burned’

“My mother-in-law made sure to start voicing her opinions. ‘You don’t need nice furniture in your apartment. I never had nice things. And why are you living together before you’re married?’ This was coming from the same woman who had a child at 15, unmarried. I grew accustomed to expecting to hear these kinds of things every time I saw her. All I wanted was some help taking care of the baby.”

‘It is so unlikely, you have better odds at winning the lotto.’ Before the tests came back, I knew something was wrong.’: Twins battle Leukemia together, ‘I‘d be a liar if I said it gets easier, you just get better at dealing with it’

“We woke to my son crying and covered in vomit. The next day, his brother was the same and couldn’t keep anything down. We thought it was a stomach bug, but it kept happening. ‘Both your boys have leukemia.’ It felt like being stuck in some kind of messed up Groundhog Day where all your nightmares are real. I felt helpless.”

Don’t Wait For Your Dreams A Second Longer—It’s Time To Pursue Them Now

“I have all these mental images of women, dressed for success and sitting desks with their laptops open and their not-even-necessary glasses to the side. The lighting is bright and there is a perfectly groomed plant in the corner by a floor to ceiling window. I felt like an imposter for being successful.”

‘One minute ago you were glued to my side, now there’s enough space between us to fill the Universe. Be patient with me as I learn to let you go.’: Mom pens touching letter to her tweenager, ‘I hope my love will always bring you back for more’

“I dreamed about you before you were even a possibility. I dreamed of you when the doctors and tests said no. I dreamed of you while I carried you in my heart and soul. And then, suddenly, you were there. Your tiny hand wrapped around my finger in an empty hospital room, looking up at me with big eyes, asking me to love you. Be patient with me as I learn to let you go.”

‘I was 14 and pregnant. ‘Can we meet?’ 9 years after she was born, my birth daughter’s family encouraged her to hug me. I didn’t want to let go.’: Woman shares perspective as an adopted child, birth mom, and adoptive mom

“I chose an amazing woman to be the mother of the child I birthed. And yet, I no longer knew how to approach her. Nine years after placing my daughter the adoption agency called me with news that would change the rest of my life. My birth daughter’s family had contacted them to see if I would be willing to meet.”