“She promised, ‘I will move closer and you will be seeing a lot more of me, because I finally want to be the mother you deserve.’ Seven years went by before I heard from her again. I have been tested, twisted, and pulled and have learned so much about who I am capable of being.”
‘I got pregnant, THREE months in. I had no clue how to be a mom, or a good one at that.’: Woman shares journey through mom’s addiction and early, unplanned pregnancy
‘This kitten isn’t going to sell.’ He had a cleft lip, crooked jaw, and one eye. She was going to kill him.’: Animal lover opens her home to special needs kitty, says ‘He opened my eyes to a whole world that deserves more attention.’
“I fell in love the second I saw him. He was just skin and bones and clearly malnourished. The breeder didn’t want her buyers to know her cat had genetic issues or was bred too soon. I could tell Cricket would fit right in with our crew.”
‘Unprompted by any of us, she began drawing in the sand. ‘I love you’. It took my breath away thinking about her leaving messages in the sand to her dad.’: Widow and young daughter visit Wales to spread husband’s ashes
“I promised you I’d bring you here. You must have known how much we needed to meet your people and how loved we would be by them in this moment. When the tide comes in, it will wash over Quinn’s drawing and take you out into the sea you loved, in a place you loved. We will always be able to come back here and know that part of you will never leave.”
‘His top lip turned black. Half his face was gone, it reminded me of a zombie. ‘I have to remove his lip.’: Miracle boy in remission after battle with leukemia, mouth infection
“A nurse grabbed me, saying, ‘Pray for your son NOW, and pray he makes it.’ She asked me if I needed to leave the room. ‘No, I’m NOT leaving my son.’ Every day I felt like I was dreaming. I don’t know how I was still standing.”
‘Maybe it’s time to change your major.’ I couldn’t turn to my parents. I’m happy I didn’t listen to that advice.’: Daughter of Mexican immigrants becomes first generation graduate, inspired by brother’s illness
“During our phone conversation I remember him telling me, ‘Mija, I am so proud of you. I knew you would get accepted!’ It’s moments like these when I am happy to share with my parents because I know they are not only my accomplishments, but theirs as well.”
‘We’re still kids and we’re having a kid!’ In shock, I took six pregnancy tests to be sure.’: Young couple miscarries twice, has to advocate for mom’s health, is now pregnant with a healthy baby
“I kept telling myself, ‘I just spotted, I haven’t bled a lot. There’s no way I’m having a miscarriage.’ I kept denying what the doctors and my gut told me. My coworker hugged me. ‘I’m so sorry and I hope you will be okay,’ she said. I thanked her and left as I no longer wanted to be there in the store crying.”
‘There is no such thing as ‘my body before pregnancy’ and ‘my body after’ it’s simply, ‘my body.’: New mom discovers postpartum body ‘may look different now, but I haven’t changed bodies like an outfit’
“I was ignorant about how my life would be reshaped in the days and weeks to follow. Your emotions soar to new heights and dip to new lows. ‘Have we rushed into being parents? Our lives were so easy before our son – now look!’ You don’t know how it will be until you’re ‘in it.”
‘Tell me if it’s a boy or girl! Why does a doctor have to call me?’ This news changed our entire life.’: Mom is pressured to terminate baby with Down syndrome, realizes she made the right choice and feels ‘guilt for fearing him’
“‘So, just because he has Down syndrome, you offer termination?’ She became quiet. ‘I will have to talk to the doctor and have her call you.’ Ummm..say what?”
‘You are on the highest dose I can legally prescribe.’ I sat in the doctor’s office, ashamed of who I’d turned into.’: Young woman with OCD/anxiety gets off medication, finally finds she ‘has the tools to power through any obstacles’
“I walked out of the office and something just clicked. I didn’t want to rely on medication anymore to be happy. I didn’t want to live my life this way any longer. I knew in my heart there had to be some other option.”
‘Everyone disappeared. Quickly I became ‘old news’ and no one cared anymore. Everyone except my family.’: Woman becomes septic after having gallstones, is now tube fed but ‘appreciates what I have instead of focusing on what I’ve lost’
“No one visited or called or even sent a message to see how I was doing. It all started when I had an emergency C-section.”
‘I begged my parents for help. I showed my mom my cut arms and nothing happened. I was in seventh grade.’: Woman dealing with self-harm, depression since childhood, is ‘hopeful’ for a time where ‘I don’t need medicine to help me anymore’
“I grabbed this object, one of those things used to scrap art or whatever it’s called, and I went crazy. I swore I’d never cut again, never try again. I’m sure you can imagine how that went”
‘Why couldn’t I just be the mom I’d pictured and do it right?’ I was going to love motherhood, every single second.: Mom suffers from depression/anxiety, finally realizes ‘I’m the mom I’m meant to be.’
“I cried, ‘Why does this feel so hard?!’ Maybe you’re thinking, ‘Duh, everyone knows motherhood is difficult.’ Still, I continued to be disappointed. No, not every day. But I was so focused on the mom I WASN’T, I didn’t take time to focus on all the things I was doing RIGHT.”
‘I know it is the best thing I have ever done for my family. Divorce is not a tragedy.’: Mother of two reflects on the positives stemming from her divorce
“I was with my husband for 13 years. I’m 30, which means our relationship began when I was only 17. At the time, we were madly in love. However, there were so many drastic changes from when I was 17. I needed to make changes in my life. One day, though, we just sat down and had a talk about how unhappy we both were.”
‘We chose RV life, RV life didn’t choose us!’: Family of 4 upgrades to an RV, ‘The only word we could use would be ‘freeing.’ You don’t realize how much things weigh on you.’
“The questions started to roll in and the eyebrows started to raise. ‘You live in what?’ We decided to live full time in our RV, for multiple reasons. We wanted to try it out. Going through our items one by one took a lot of weight off of us. We felt like we could breathe again. We could easily question, ‘What happens after this?’ The beauty is, we don’t have to know all the answers!”
‘I’m too scared to tell you because you’ll get mad.’ They’ve been cowering every time I ask, ‘what happened here?’ They’ve been lying!’: Mom implements ‘safe zone’ for kids after realizing she’s been bullying them for bad behavior
“I erupted like a volcano, spewing anger at her tiny 4-year-old body. I can hear the bully I am being. Then she matter-of-factly said, ‘I was too scared to ask you for a piece of paper so I colored on the table instead.’ The very first thing I said was, ‘thank you for telling me the truth.’ I noticed how mean I’ve been. I have realized I’m being unfair. I needed a change.”
‘I’ve failed. I can’t do this. I’m too old. No one will ever want me. I’ll never be good enough in anyone’s eyes.’ Mom recalls struggles as a single mom, urges ‘You are made for more’
“I see you: It’s early morning. Your hands grip the edge of your kitchen sink; head slumped as the last few peaceful moments of the morning diminish to dust in the rays through the window. You grasp for air in your lungs. Razor waves of all the anxiety in your life grate against your throat with each breath you take. I know you’re tired.”
‘I was scared to open the ambulance door. ‘I’m here, everything will be OK. We’re getting you help.’ A tear ran down my son’s face.’: Mom loses ‘gentle giant’ to ‘freak accident’ after gun falls from cabinet, ‘The investigator had never seen anything like it’
“I texted my son and asked, ‘Are you ok?’ Right at that moment, my husband said, ‘Get home now, Cody is bleeding. He is hurt bad.’ The pistol was put way up high in a cabinet. He must’ve been trying to hurry and the gun fell. The investigator said the only explanation he could give us was it was God’s plan.”
‘I was separated from my husband, left a toxic job, and lost most of my friends. Then I thought of the women in my life.’: Woman realizes she is a ‘strong woman’ because she was raised by ‘stronger women
“My great grandmother had 9 children. My great grandfather had spent time in prison for bootlegging, and drank heavily. How she was able to keep it together with 9 kids, no money and an alcoholic husband and stay sane is completely beyond me. My grandmother then made something of herself after losing her husband. She was determined. She was beautiful but tough, sometimes just downright mean, but she was who she was and if someone did not like it then, ‘they can leave.'”
Why I Allow My Kids Fail
“I am here to steward if necessary, but not to do the work for him.”
‘I want to buy Sean’s grave.’ I was shocked. ‘What?’ Silent tears ran down my cheeks. I gave him a tight hug. ‘Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.’: Widow shares kind act that helped relieve financial burden after husband’s sudden death
“Greg stepped forward. He looked right at me. ‘A few months back, Sean came and saved me from a plumbing nightmare when my water heater went out. He wouldn’t let me pay him for the labor. Sean’s not here to argue with me. Let me give him this final gift of thanks.’ I was speechless.”
‘What the heck, I’m not ready. I wasn’t expecting this.’ Everything we knew had taken a sudden shift.’: 20-year-old gets positive pregnancy test same day as husband’s deployment, ‘I couldn’t handle going through it alone’
“The first day he came home, we got pregnant. We’d been apart for 3 months straight – can you really blame us? The sun was just coming up. We were packing our car for the airport to say our goodbyes. I woke up feeling nauseous, so I took a pregnancy test. I immediately felt lightheaded and fell on my cold bathroom floor, bawling. Hayden sat next to me, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What do you want to do? It’s going to be okay.’ Before I knew it, Hayden was gone and I was on my way back home, alone.”
‘You probably won’t be able to pull off a vaginal delivery due to your size.’ My doctor commented on my weight at my first appointment.’: Woman shares struggles of being plus-size, ‘I was so quick to hate on my body, to grab the rolls and want to rip them off’
“I felt as if every person in the room was judging me for eating. ‘She carries snacks in her bag? No wonder she’s fat.’ Why did I feel like this for simply trying to provide myself with nourishment? I just wanted to be pretty. Skinny. There were horror stories of doctors being prejudiced to mothers for being bigger, calling them fat like it was nothing. I was horrified. The moment I held my son for the first time, I realized how truly amazing my body was, even though I was plus-size. I did that!”
‘I sat in our garage, started my car and let it run. I wanted to die. And then I saw my son open the garage door.’: Woman gives hope to other victims of narcissistic abuse, ‘I’m not ready to die. In fact, I’m ready to be reborn.’
“When I was 9 months pregnant, my husband was in a horrible car accident. I learned he’d been to a strip club and cheated on me that night. ‘He loves me enough to change.’ I wanted to be a ‘whole’ family. He was taking my car keys, my money, making sure he knew where I was. My son’s needs with his autism were increasing so we moved to Arizona to get him more help. This wasn’t about bettering our life at all. This was all just a master plan of isolating me. I finally knew I was done.”
‘Why are you so loud, Nicole?’ a boy asked. ‘You can’t be fat AND loud.’ That moment set something off in me.’: Woman shares extreme weight loss journey, ‘The joy I’ve felt is indescribable!’
“The summer after I got clean, I was at an amusement park with friends. I recall waiting in line for rides and pleading with God, ‘Please, please let me fit.’ I even told the attendant, ‘You can push as hard as you can, I promise you won’t hurt me.’ As 3 people pushed down on the lap bar, I remember tears welling up in my eyes. I turned to my then boyfriend and said, ‘I need help. I’m going to eat myself to death.’ The straps didn’t fit. I couldn’t fit into a single ride.”
‘She began to sob, her head in her hands. She fumbled for a tissue, dotting under her eyes. She attempted to collect herself.’: Widow witnesses stranger break down in car after sharing daughter for holidays, makes her realize ‘You are worthy of love’
“I was sitting in the Target parking lot when a minivan pulled up next to me. A mom and her daughter were waiting for someone. Not a moment later, a man pulled up in a car and all 3 exited their vehicles. The only thing I can gather is these were divorced parents. The dad was taking his daughter for the holiday. The girl had a backpack with her. She hugged her mom tight. She got in the car with her dad, and they drove off. The mom watched as they drove away, walked back to her car, then I saw her. She sat for a moment. How would I feel if I had to share my son?”