‘Throw in your ‘perfect’ towel. Wave the flag of your motherhood style proudly. To them, you hung the moon. They couldn’t do life without you.’: Mom says ‘no amount of mom guilt can take away the glory you are in your child’s eyes’

“Pinterest Pam is shoving her perfectly-staged lemonade stand in our face. Even when we don’t mean to compare, we do. Society tells us to suck it up, work full time, be the perfect mother, work out daily, prepare a home-cooked meal every night, and keep our husbands happy. And if you fail at any of those things, you’re a crappy mother. Instead of talking about it, we try to do more. Well, mamas, I’m calling BS.”

‘Scott needed his tonsils removed. ‘I feel nervous.’ Hours later, I got a text from his brother: ‘I’m so sorry.’ He had to be playing a prank.’: Woman loses husband to sleep apnea during tonsillectomy

“Scott went in for his surgery and FaceTimed me when he got out. He said in his hoarse post-surgery voice, ‘I’m so sorry I am not there to help you and your mom right now. A few hours later, I got a text from his brother. ‘Mel, I’m so sorry. Scott didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.’ Huh? I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

‘I asked if there was anybody named ‘Gordon.’ The woman who answered said, ‘No, no one works here with that name.’: Woman ‘thankful’ for act of kindness after receiving suspicious check

“My husband and I decided it was time to get rid of some NASCAR memorabilia. Within 10 minutes of putting it up I got a message that someone was interested, but they wanted to send a check. I guess it was a good thing I said, ‘Yes,’ because the guy sent me a check for over $2,000. My item was just 50 bucks! The name on the package was not the same as the check.”

‘We expect them to sit and be quiet for 3 hours. We expect them to just ‘get over it’, when people hurt their feelings.’: Mom on having ‘strong willed, SUPER energetic, exhausting kids’ under your roof

“I slumped down into that grey, padded chair and I thought to myself, ‘These people think we have it all together. We walk in here with our Sunday best on, hair done and a fake smile across our faces, and they have NO CLUE the gates of hell that have unleashed on us the last two days.”

‘You get to sit home all day, what do you have to cry about?’ We get told we’re ‘lazy.’ That it’s not ‘real work’ so we have nothing to complain about.’: Mom urges ‘check in on your SAHM friends, we are NOT okay’

“You smell like sweat and tears for days at a time. You don’t get breaks. You lock yourself in the bathroom and scream into a towel while crying because you need a second to breathe, all while a child is banging on the door to get in. You forget what it means or feels like to be an individual. I was one of those people who judged SAHM’s. But I get it now. We are lonely and alone.”

‘I now realize why my grandmother was so reluctant to say, ‘Yes. You can live here.’: Man shares gratitude for Grandmother who took him in and ‘saved his life’

“I can still remember her sitting in the white vinyl rocker next to the refrigerator, a wrinkled moisturizer-soaked hand on her forehead, shoulders slumped, trying to figure out how to raise a teenager long after she’d intended to raise a teenager. She sacrificed a lot by taking in her troubled, slightly drug addicted, disgruntled, often absent from class, foul mouthed, rebellious grandson.”

People Tell Me I’m ‘Lucky’ To Be A Stay-At-Home Mom, But All I Feel Is Loneliness

“When I gave birth to my daughter at 19, people always asked, ‘When do you plan to go back to work?’ When I said I planned to be a stay-at-home mom, they’d always say how appreciative I should be. Nobody tells you how draining being stuck in the same routine, everyday, is. The same pile of dishes, the same pile of laundry, the same toys lying all over the floor. ⁣⁣No matter how many hours are in a day, you still won’t feel like you’ve done enough.”

‘Sweet dreams baby boy, mummy loves you.’ The tiniest coffin lowered into the ground. That’s when it really hits you.’: Woman loses son to Edward’s Syndrome, ‘We gave him the most love we possibly could’

“We sat down that night with our oldest two. We explained we were so truly lucky because instead of a baby to bring home, we were given the rarest of gifts: an angel baby. They sobbed, ‘But we want him to come home.’ We purchased his plot where he would soon be laid to rest. At 32 weeks, we met with the funeral director – all as he kicked playfully inside my belly.”

‘Hang tight. He is on his way, and is beyond your wildest dreams.’ A week later, I met the man who would be my fiancé.’: Widow embraces love after loss after late husband dies tragically in ‘mock robbery’

“‘I’m sorry to say this, but your husband died tonight,’ the police officer said. The store was filled with gun powder. I looked across the room to find a pool of blood. Brian was 30 years old. We’d just gotten married only 86 days before. He didn’t realize the gun was fully loaded and shot him in the face.”

‘I’m just meeting a friend,’ I told myself. We’d met in an chat room, only chatted for 10 minutes, and decided it was time to meet in person.’: Woman recounts her journey to meeting her soulmate

“I opened my eyes.‘Monday and raining,’ I thought, as I slid my hand across the bed to find an empty pillow. Michael had slept downstairs… again. Our strong foundation began to crumble. I had no idea if our marriage could be saved. ‘I just left the Doctor’s office.’ This was the third doctor he’d seen about the lump above his eye. ‘He said it could be cancer.'”

‘We think people don’t like us. We go through all our unanswered texts. We knit-pick until we’re miserable.’: Woman shamelessly admits to being part of the ‘moms on antidepressants club’

“I’m part of the moms on antidepressants club. Each morning, we take a little pill to lessen the bad feelings. People who don’t understand say, ‘But there’s nothing to be sad about.’ We aren’t ‘crazy.’ We just want to be better versions of ourselves for our kids. Antidepressants make us better moms.”

‘He bribed me to kiss him like lovers do. He had to ‘teach me.’ He did things fathers should never do to their daughters.’: Child abuse survivor encourages others, ‘Be free. You deserve it.’

“My father would permit himself to watch me as I took showers. My father had to ‘teach me’ so when I started dating, I would be ‘prepared.’ I froze in disbelief. The fear of sending my father back to jail was far worse than speaking up of the wrongdoings. Who else would support my family and me? I wanted to scream, ‘I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!’ I can’t emphasize enough YOU are not alone. I was stronger than I thought. You are now in a safe place.”

‘They blurted out, ‘Omg, look at IT!’ Children ran up with cell phones, loudly yelling and recording me. I left the store traumatized.’: Woman with dwarfism shares unique journey

“When I wake up every morning, I don’t look in the mirror and see dwarfism. But I know once I step outside the door, somebody will remind me. A common question is, ‘What do you want to be called? Dwarf, little person, LP, midget?’ I would like to be called Amy, because that’s my name. At the end of the day, I want people to remember who I am, not what I look like.”

‘Did I ever think you were mean and not like you?’ I knew she was leading up to something.’: Stepmom blames movies for giving stepmoms ‘a bad rap,’ ‘Come on, Hollywood, help some sisters out!’

“My stepdaughter has only known her parents being apart. They split when she was 1. I assumed she didn’t have any issues about living in two homes. She brought up ‘Cinderella’ and how the stepmom was mean. Her response made me tear up. ‘I think we are really special. It’s different with us.’ I know it’s not easy for all blended families. The crucial piece is to have a cordial relationship with her mother.”