“I’ve experienced too many instances of people taking selfies with Penny and posting them all over social media. Penny is not your ‘Disabled Best Friend,’ or a chapter in your Facebook Story. Please don’t exploit a non-existent relationship with a disabled child in a wheelchair to demonstrate to your friends and family how wonderful you are. She just wants to belong.”
‘Penny is nonverbal, but please don’t make her a prop. She is not your ‘disabled best friend.’: Dad touched after stranger’s rare ‘act of empathy’ for daughter with Aicardi syndrome, ‘the world needs more people like her’
‘I was still in I-might-die-at-any-moment panic mode. Nothing could change that. ‘Do you guys know Jesus loves you?’ Except that.’: Woman pursuing international adoption sits next to very religious man on flight
“‘Do you guys know that Jesus loves you?’ Now normally, the idea of being stuck on a 14+ hour flight with someone who uses that line as an ice breaker would send me reaching for the airsick bag faster than you can say, ‘bad peanuts.’ But on this day, when I’d been praying like a mad woman for some little sliver of comfort – it was exactly what I needed to hear.”
‘An older man yelled loudly on my usual running path. ‘Sexy lady. Hey, sexy lady!’: Woman ‘touched’ after little boy steps up to street harasser
“He kept screaming it. I decided to ignore him and keep running, which seemed to really annoy him. He lashed out. That was my trigger point. The B word. I ripped off my headphones, prepared to stand up for myself when this little boy walking alongside his mother and little sister stepped in.”
‘Our beautiful, once vibrant Sarah is now a shell of a human.’ I was spiraling out of control. A monster was being born.’: Young woman shares journey to overcoming eating disorder
“I was struggling in secret, terrified someone would find out. Bit-by-bit, I was disappearing. ‘You don’t need to use your body to show you’re hurting.’ School no longer mattered, and a monster was being born. Everyone walked on eggshells around me. Then all of a sudden, my parents learned what was happening. They were shocked.”
‘Please don’t leave me. You can have us both.’ I panicked. I must’ve dropped the ball somewhere.’: Woman recalls pain of infidelity, finds happiness with new husband, ‘I didn’t think people like him existed’
“There it was in my phone bill. The proof that something was wrong. I found text messages to another number all hours of the night. I called to pay my power bill and was asked ‘which address’ I wanted to apply the payment to. Then I knew. He had two places he was living. Two separate lives. ‘Honey, he doesn’t deserve your love.’ I was sure I’d never marry again, until our blind date.”
I Reunited With My Birth Daughter’s Adoptive Family At Disney World
“I was shocked. My heart was beating out of my chest. I hadn’t seen these faces since I was 16, leaving the hospital.”
‘He was terrified he’d watch her leap off the bridge. He pushed forward, to ‘catch her feet’ if she went over the rails.’: Son saves stranger from near suicide attempt, ‘if you hear someone calling out for help, you can’t turn away’
“We couldn’t find our son anywhere. We were stunned to hear what happened in the time he’d been ‘missing.’ As he came upon the bridge, he saw an outline of a person perched on the railing with her body leaning over the top, looking down toward the raging river. Eventually, she looked back at him with a terrifying look in her eyes. ‘How can I help?,’ he asked.”
‘We have a sibling set of 3.’ Our lives were about to change. ‘THREE???’ Jared’s voice reassured me. ‘Let’s do it!’: Couple take in 3 siblings from foster care, ‘We were instantly in love’
“Three hours later, we became legal guardians for 2 adorable little toddlers. The first month, I felt like a horrible parent. ‘How did we end up here?’ Everything changed when news broke that our 2 littles were going to be placed with another family willing to take in all 3. My heart broke as the reality of foster care hit. I remember looking at Jared and saying, ‘I’m not ready to lose them.’ 0 to 4 kids in a year and a half? Why not??? We needed to take them all!”
‘Where’s Daddy?,’ he asked. ‘At work,’ I replied glumly. My sweet son literally crumpled to the floor in disappointment. It surprised me.’: Military spouse gets reminder to remember the ‘bigger picture’
“My son woke up Monday morning, came downstairs, and immediately ran over to his father’s office chair. Arms raised in exasperation, he turned toward me and asked, ‘Where’s Daddy?’ We’d just had a wonderful weekend, and I wasn’t ready for it to be over. ‘Daddy’s at work. He has to go to work to make money. He goes to work because he loves us.’”
‘Gianna would love to talk to you.’ I instantly regretted my decision. ‘Do I really want her at my house?’ We set a date.’: Mothers form unlikely bond through special needs daughters
“She thought we should meet. Would it be awkward? Texting a stranger? I knew what I needed to do first. Look her up on Facebook. I immediately found her page and was instantly intimidated by her photo. Her profile picture was of her on their wedding day. She was beautiful, thin, gorgeous. There were no photos of her daughter’s face. Everything was vague. Did she think she was Blue Ivy? What’s the deal with that? I am a chronic over-sharer. Surely we wouldn’t have anything in common. Oh how wrong I was.”
‘Get back in the car!’ I almost killed my boyfriend. Screaming, threatening his life, I was blackout at 3 p.m.’: 27-year-old overcomes severe alcoholism, loses 40 pounds, ‘I couldn’t have given myself a better gift’
“I was leaving work to go to the liquor store, buying fifths of whiskey and drinking them in the parking lot. Taking shots by myself. In my drunken rage I drove off wildly. With no regard for anyone else’s safety. I don’t remember it. Hell, I don’t want to. I stayed in my room for 3 days and cried. I couldn’t look at anyone. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even move. I was done.”
‘I don’t mean to stir up drama, but this woman says your baby is ‘fake’ and you’re stealing yogurts.’: Mom gets ‘good laugh’ at supermarket after stranger’s false accusations
“To the lady who told the cashier at Aldi I had a fake baby and was trying to smuggle yogurts out of the store: 1) My baby is 100% real. 2) Yogurts are like 25 cents. 3) I’m lactose intolerant and don’t consume dairy. Thank you for the laugh, though. I really needed it because I was up all night tending to my again, 100% real, baby. Parenting is hard enough; the judgement of strangers is not needed.”
‘I’m sorry I was so difficult.’ I grabbed his hand. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’ He hung his head. ‘Yes ma’am.’: Adopted son apologies for his trauma-fueled behavior, ‘He doesn’t see how brave he is’
“He found his old journal. ‘I threw it away. It made me sad to see who I was when I came to you.’ Both our eyes filled with tears. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know how to trust me.’ He slayed my heart, thanking me for dinner on a random Tuesday night. ‘I’m just so thankful I will have a meal each night,’ he said. I couldn’t even lift my head to look him in the eyes. He became worried he’d said something wrong.”
‘Don’t try to fix me, or tell me it’s in my head. Just show up. I promise I’ll do the same.’: Woman pens letter to friends explaining anxiety, ‘Friendship is loving each other in ups and downs’
“When anxiety rears its ugly head, everything can look perfect. But all of a sudden, normal things feel like end-of-the-world things. Dirty dishes a mountain, laundry a tsunami, fighting kids a start of the third world war, bills are the crash of the stock market, relationship issues are the end of me having friends. Even though you can CLEARLY see it’s not, for me, that’s what the world feels like. You, my friend, can help me. You can love me in that space.”
‘I know you didn’t want this. You didn’t want this for us. The pain. I miss the way you loved me.’: Woman’s painful recollection of losing husband to suicide, fighting for him to stay, ‘I miss you’
“I want to pretend you’re in the other room, so I’ll even call your name. I want to taste it on my lips again. You fought, though. You fought so hard. But then you got so tired of fighting. The scars on my knees are a painful reminder of how I wouldn’t accept defeat with your last breath.”
‘Our 12-year-old son might as well have been looking at a car accident, his mouth open aghast. We didn’t explain ourselves.’: Parents proud of PDA in front of their kids, ‘I want them to feel comfortable showing affection’
“I came up from behind, put my arms around my wife, turned her around, and did one of those dramatic dip kisses. She laughed as I pulled her back up. It was then that I could feel someone watching us.”
‘I found myself stopped in my tracks, watching as she walked inside. I want to be her when I grow up.’: Mom of 3 shares touching moment with military mom, ‘Her words were everything I needed’
“This woman is my hero. I don’t know who she is, but she gave me the strength I needed today.”
‘I could never punish anyone the way you have punished me,’ my mother texted. You are poison to me.’: Woman recalls toxic relationship with her mother, ‘I am only protecting myself’
“I love you, my long lost almost mother… My love for you IS unconditional, but your presence in my life is not. All I know, is that it hurts less when I am away. I know you hurt, and I hurt too. My plan was never to hurt you, or get revenge. However, I could not keep accepting your rejection.”
‘The doctor kept saying ‘your daughter’ in his last moments. Through gritted teeth I said, ‘He is a boy.’: Dad silent for 10 years after losing twin, urges ‘ask your sad friend about the sad thing you never talked about’
“10 years ago, my son died. I’ve never talked about it with anyone but my wife. It’s taken 10 years to realize I want to talk about it all the time. Public talk of grief is very, very weird. It’s all ‘sorry for your loss’ and tilted heads, cards with calligraphy and whispering. We’re on tiptoes all the time. But grief is not one thing. It’s not just sadness. It’s a galaxy of emotions put in orbit by the loss of someone you loved.”
‘I’m under the impression you already know your baby is missing its left hand.’ The doctor looked mortified.’: Couple learns of daughter’s limb difference, ‘angry’ after doctor suggests termination
“I can still smell the pungent cleaner that room smelled so strongly of. My gut told me he wasn’t telling me something. I immediately saw red. Oh the tears I cried. Nothing can prepare you for news like that, nothing. I wanted to protect her. She was perfect.”
‘I placed him in a box, handing him off to a stranger. ‘I love you, Ren,’ I whispered to my son.’: Father tearfully recalls needing to be the ‘superhero’ after losing newborn, ‘I began to break’
“As my wife looked at his little face, she asked me to hand her a wet washcloth. Confused, I then watched as she began to softly dab his little dried up lips. She nurtured and cared for our little boy’s fragile body. I have so much gratitude to this woman. How strong she is. Not only did she say hello to our son for the first time, but soon, she was going to be forced to say goodbye. The thought haunted me.”
‘Kayla BARELY speaks. Is she stupid or something?’ That was it. I was done feeling sorry for being shy.’: Woman learns to accept herself as is, ‘there is nothing wrong with being an introvert’
“Those words stung. I heard them from beyond the bathroom door. I went home and cried before wiping away my tears. I have been shy and introverted my whole life. I am still shy, and I will probably always be shy. And that is OKAY! I’m done feeling inadequate for being myself.”
‘Let me know if you need anything.’ But a new mom never will.’: Woman’s candid advice on how to help a new mom so they don’t ‘shoulder it alone’
“Bring a meal, but don’t go in. They just had a baby, they need food. They don’t need to put on a bra, clean the house, or entertain.”
‘If you do this, you will destroy your family.’ They looked me straight in the eye. Wow.’: Mom of 6 adopts internationally out of birth order despite harsh criticisms, ‘our story is messy, but worth it all’
“‘Hi, my name is Teresa and I’m mom of six,’ I want to say like we’re in a support group. I still laugh at the whole concept of me being responsible for all these wonderfully, crazy children. Kids were not the plan. But as my husband and I stood before the photograph of a little boy praying, it was like blinders fell from our eyes.”
‘You need to come now.’ He told me he ‘found’ my daughter. I fell to my knees in the snow.’: Dad loses daughter to Fentanyl overdose, ‘Please wrap your arms around your loved ones’
“That’s how it all started. A little bit of weed and a little speed. She believed people who told her it was no big deal. She wanted to get clean. ‘Daddy, I don’t want to go back to that stuff ever again.’ The rest of the story is buried with her.”