“Each day I came home, more things were missing. Not just random papers. I’m talking, MY stuff. When questioned, I got, ‘I’m doing what needs to be done, don’t question me.’ I was like his child, not his wife. I married a full-blown narcissist. Ugh, I finally said it. I couldn’t live like that anymore. There was no sign of life, it didn’t feel like a home. So I left – 6 months pregnant with two small children in tow.”
‘This is my house. You will respect me.’ I didn’t see him until 3 a.m. before OUR DAUGHTER WAS BORN.’: Retired Air Force mom leaves narcissistic husband after nearly 9 years, ‘never felt happier in my life’ as single mom
‘I clung to his casket, stroking his cold cheeks. My entire world lay there, lifeless, nothing but a shell.’: Woman loses grandma to lung cancer, then loses mom and brother to addiction shortly after
“I noticed my brother kept ‘falling asleep’ while talking to me. He tried to explain it away, but I knew he was lying. ‘You’re nodding out, James. Are you high?’ He finally put his head in his hands and started to cry, shaking his head yes. ‘I learned how to shoot up.’ I was devastated. Now, I must listen to his playlist to feel closer to him. My baby brother is gone.”
‘I’m pregnant. I know you’re the best thing for him. He’ll thank me for this one day.’: Birth mom unexpectedly shows up to court, surprises couple by ensuring they’ll adopt son, ‘He is the most loved boy in the entire world’
“‘Are y’all going to be at court tomorrow?’ she asks. ‘Yes ma’am, of course,’ I quickly reply. ‘Little Man’s birth mom was wondering if you’d be willing to speak with her.’ This was not what I expected to hear. ‘Sure, no problem. See you there,’ I told her. I nervously pondered. The ride on the elevator is quiet. I hear the ‘thump’ of flip flops down the hall. I look to my right, and see his birth mom walking down the long hallway. Here it goes.”
‘Please quit, that’s enough.’ I leaned over you as we tried to pump life back into your soul again.’: Nurse pens emotional tribute to patients lost, admits she loses ‘a little of myself’ every time
“The look in your eyes said you were already gone. Your family wept, told us to keep trying. They didn’t want to let you leave. So, we continued on. Medications. Shocks. Pumps. Sweat poured down my face. I tried to hide my tears by staring at my shoelaces. We watched the life leave your body and go to a place none of us know or understand. We tried so hard to save you. We just couldn’t do it that day.”
‘Sweet boy, Mommy and Daddy love you so much.’ His silent 3-pound body was wrapped in a blanket.’: Parents of child loss know they will see son ‘in heaven,’ celebrate living twin’s life while grieving their loss
“We cried, touching him gently. The room was filled with silence. ‘What color would you like Noah’s casket?’ ‘What outfit will he be buried in?’ I struggled to answer. I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘I’m not supposed to be making these decisions. Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children.’ We celebrate his twin brother Liam as we grieve Noah. But death is not the end. We will see Noah in heaven some day.”
‘My daughter was put in detention for the day because ‘her skirt is too short.’ She’d been in school ONE HOUR.’: Mom furious after first day of school turns to ‘nightmare,’ challenges ‘outdated’ school rules
“When I asked IF the length of my daughter’s skirt affected her education and ability to learn, I was told, ‘Yes.’ When I asked HOW, I was told, ‘School policy.’ I pointed to 3 staff members wearing shorter skirts than my daughter. She looked at me dumbfounded and didn’t answer. This isn’t about my daughter or her school. This isn’t a child issue, or even a parents issue. This is SO MUCH more than being about ‘just a skirt.'”
‘I couldn’t move. They said I’d never walk again. I WALKED down the aisle at my wedding.’: Woman finds her ‘purpose’ after being paralyzed in horrific car accident
“I remember hearing someone scream ‘say something, say something!’ and all I could say was ‘help.’ I remember him running over to me and saying ‘I have help on the way, it’s going to be okay.’ I don’t remember anything after that.”
I’m A Mediocre Wife, Mother, And Friend, And I’m Okay With That
“When I was younger, I wanted to be everything. Smartest, prettiest, funniest…I desired to be the total package. I yearned to be the best possible version of myself. Quite frankly, it was exhausting.”
‘Take your kids, get out of there! Leave him now!’ There was a knock on our door. The cops. They’d seen the video.’: Woman narrowly escapes abusive man, flees home to family who cried when she was ‘finally free’
“My heart was pounding as I stood in the middle of the airport. My two boys aged 3 and 4, gazed up at me with sleepy eyes. It was 6:00 a.m. We were flying home to the USA. I was trying to act calm. The woman at check-in gave me a bewildered look when I told her we had no luggage to check. I was terrified I was going to be asked if I had their father’s permission to take them out the country. I didn’t.”
‘No one asked if I was OK.’ I was 15 when I attempted suicide. I went to church, sat alone. I cried the entire service.’: Woman urges Christians to discuss mental health, ‘you don’t need to hide it’
“It was a Sunday afternoon. I cried for the WHOLE service. I sat alone in a row towards the back. I was told by my Pastor if I attempted suicide, I would go to hell. I was told by my elder I was beyond reaching, not worth saving – I had fallen too far for God to find me. Trusted friends told me if I had stronger faith and prayed more, I wouldn’t need anti-depressants. I was told my depression was a result of my sin. But as far as I knew, my only repeated offense was existing.”
‘I was 6 months pregnant when I said ‘I do.’ I picked a cheap dress, wore borrowed rings, and didn’t have a honeymoon.’: Woman claims wedding was the ‘best day of her life’ because she ‘chose the right man’
“I planned our wedding in less than 2 months. I was pregnant, so I didn’t care what my hair looked like on our special day as long as it was out of my face so I could quickly vomit. We were married on a Sunday and went back to work on Monday. I wasn’t wearing my dream dress. But my loved ones surrounded me, and when I said ‘I do,’ I believed in the person I was choosing to lead me into our new life.”
‘I’m driving home, my son and his broken bone. I prayed. Please don’t need surgery. I cried. And it hit me.’: Mom learns to count her blessings rather than letting anxiety spiral out of control
“As I was driving home from the ER this week for the 50th time (I’m a boy mom – don’t judge) looking at my youngest in the back seat, my mind was racing. Here’s another broken bone, that means another doctor visit, another possible surgery, another doctor bill. My mind was going everywhere. I only need to take 4 hours off work. If they do surgery, I’ll need the full day off. I’m an awful mom. And then it hit me. Get your big girl panties on. It’s nothing terminal. I silently cried the whole way home.”
‘If things don’t improve, we will let you go. They get a choice whether to believe me. My illness isn’t visible.’: Woman describes being ‘dehumanized’ after being fired for being disabled
“When they pick my performance to pieces and criticize my every move, I then have to deal with being humiliated and adding another layer of my ‘not being good enough’ complex to the myriad of problems I already have to face on a daily basis.”
‘I broke things off with my husband. It was a shock to my family. I hid my unhappiness well. Then I met Sean.’: Teen bride finds ‘unconditional love’ after realizing she didn’t want to be ‘pastor’s wife,’ is ‘grateful for second chance at happiness’
“I was 18 when I married my high school sweetheart. I hesitantly resigned myself to becoming a youth pastor’s wife, and told myself I’d learn to bake casseroles and become the epitome of domesticity. I told myself this was who I was. I never anticipated the crash.”
‘My heart was pounding. My husband had been gone for 3 years. I’d completely written off ever finding his phone.’: Widow’s discovery on late husband’s phone solidifies she’s ‘marrying the right guy’
“As I scrolled through his pictures, what I saw stopped me in my tracks. A few weeks before his death, Chase had gone to a basketball game. There was only one member of the team showing in both pictures. It was Nick, my fiance and now husband. I’d always had the feeling Chase approved of Nick, but this seemed like a message from Heaven that I was on the right path. I was marrying the right guy.”
‘Doctors: Don’t expect him to crawl, walk, or walk. Cash: Hold my sippy cup. Watch this.’: Mom feels ‘lucky’ to parent son with Down syndrome, ‘he has taught us all to love wholeheartedly’
“The doctor was cold, rude, and uncomfortable. He ignored my husband every time he tried to speak and suggested we ‘put him up for adoption.’ Yet, NO ONE agreed he had Down Syndrome. We looked at his little almond-shaped eyes and back at each other and just KNEW. Our lives didn’t ‘fall apart.’ We didn’t ‘mourn’ the loss of a ‘perfect’ baby. We were just so in love.”
‘She may never walk again,’ my doctor said. ‘Like hell,’ I thought. I was 17. I’d been in a car accident.’: Single mom overcomes crippling car accident, alcoholism, daughter’s autism diagnosis, says ‘don’t count yourself out’
“I was about to move out, but I found out I was pregnant. I was running on fumes. I felt like I’d made a huge mistake becoming a mom. I wasn’t good at this. I drank to cope. My marriage ended explosively. I finally decided enough was enough when my daughter started copying everything I do. She reached for my beer, and I remember deciding, it was time to be done. For good. That was 8 months ago.”
‘I was crying but grateful for these moments of happiness, grateful he heard his family laugh hours before he died.’: Mom describes first ‘denial’ and then ‘finding strength’ in son’s death
“For years I referred to ‘losing Lochlan’, like he was still lost in a department store and I just needed to go pick him up.”
‘They laugh when you flap your arms. They think you’re stupid. But you were created special on purpose.’: Mom of daughter with Rett Syndrome details emotional moment grandma’s love quiets her symptoms
“You see, my daughter’s syndrome doesn’t allow you to touch her face or hands. That day, I saw Ivy on the love seat with granny. They both leaned in, foreheads touching, and granny was holding Ivy’s hands and face! Ivy was SMILING and listening to granny quietly speak. ‘You are special. You are good enough. You are different…on purpose.’ No matter the diagnosis or prognosis, I KNEW my Ivy heard granny and understood.”
‘When I send my daughter to school, it hurts. My heart skip beats. My cheeks are hot, tingly.’: Mom is ‘worried sick’ about daughter with disabilities being accepted at school
“I feel sick with worry because I am here, and she is there. Every single moment of every single day I see the potential behind my daughter’s beautiful brown eyes. My biggest fear is that others will not see the same things in her.”
‘The adoption date changed. Then the unthinkable happened. My darling husband collapsed from a seizure.’: Husband dies 2 weeks before twin adoption finalized to become ‘official family of 5’
“I knew from the moment I saw this tiny dynamic duo, they were mine – the love at first sight squeezed my heart as I looked into their squishy, brown faces. I was immediately a goner for these kids. We were a force to be reckoned with. I was a mom on a mission, and I was prepared to do anything to seal the deal for our family. Then yet another bomb detonated. My husband Peter fell ill with a vicious terminal disease.”
‘Where’s my phone?!’ My arms, legs began to shake. I lost my vision. I lay on the bathroom floor, alone, no cellphone.’: Woman says mental illness ‘humbled’ her, reminds us ‘it’s okay to be different’
“I woke up feeling a little off, but brushed it off. I signed my kids into their classes, headed upstairs to find a seat in the auditorium. Then, I felt the shift. ‘This is where I needed to be.’ I had commitments, and I needed to be okay. But heat flooded my body. The beautiful music became an overwhelming noise. I decided to escape. There was no warning, no time to prepare.”
‘I feel like I’m crumbling. Then I stopped for coffee and got this reminder from the barista.’: Stranger’s act of kindness for overwhelmed mom reminds her there are helping hands ‘when we need it the most’
“Yesterday, I failed as a mom. I was late picking the kids up from school, causing my child to cry. Instead of comforting her, I scolded her. I ended the evening making my oldest burst into tears at dinner. I then picked a fight with my husband. This morning, I stopped for coffee before taking my minivan to get fixed, and got this reminder from the barista.”
‘Papa, please back up!’ He doesn’t move. ‘Relax, I can play how I want with her,’ he ruffles her hair.’: Mom stands up to grandfather for inappropriate touching, teaches 3-year-old daughter she’s ‘allowed, expected’ to say no
“A grown man looms behind my 3-year-old daughter. He will poke or tickle her, and she responds by shrinking. ‘Mae.’ My tone cuts through the noise. She does not look at me. ‘Mae.’ I start again. ‘You can tell him no.’ As I say the words, my stepfather leans in closer. His grin taunts me as my daughter tries to escape his hot breath. I repeat myself. She finally peeks up at me. ‘Mama…can you say it?’”
‘Excuse me, my child has a question about your face.’ Others pulled their kids away like I shouldn’t be looked at.’: Woman with Craniofacial differences reminds us to use ‘kindness’ to approach uniqueness
“In middle school, kids started to stare and ask, ‘Why does your face look smooshed? What’s wrong with your nose?’ My mom would tell me how pretty I was and I’d always say, ‘You’re my mom, you have to say that.’ I’d spend so much time buying cuter clothes, different makeup, more jewelry to overshadow my face. But when I stripped it all down, my confidence was gone.”