“He is not choosing gender reassignment. He is not making a political statement. He’s 2! He just wants to feel good in what he wears. The comments are hurtful.”
‘My son wears dresses. He just wants to feel pretty like his older sisters.’: Mom says ‘we must let our children be who they’re meant to be’
‘He looked me straight in the eyes and muttered a single word: RUN.’: Crowd of thousands mistake popped water bottle for gunshot, woman claims mass shootings have us all ‘living in fear’
“I walked around the venue, trying to find a spot in the crowd. Then, we heard it. ‘GUN!’ Screams erupted. My friend and I shared a mutual look of terror before breaking into a sprint. Adrenaline carried us. Police officers ran towards us, guns pulled. ‘Keep your heads down!’ In the end? It was a popped water bottle. But I will remember it as if it were real because, in that moment, it was.”
‘Did you not get my letter? Your dad’s been dead 7 months. He killed himself.’ Imagine being told that over the phone.’: Woman endures years of trauma, meets ‘saving grace’ who saved her life
“I don’t know what sound came out of me, but I know I started screaming, shaking. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the floor for about half an hour before I could even stand up. Students put posters in their friends lockers with sweet notes. My ‘Get Well Soon’ poster comments were ‘Hope You Die’ and ‘Don’t Come Back.’ That month changed everything, including my innocence.”
‘I ran inside and found my sweet boy gashed up. Grandmom was rocking him, absolutely horrified.’: Mom warns parents to be ‘vigilant’ of pets around children after dog attack leaves infant son in stitches
“They had their back turned for just one second, and my oldest son came on the porch yelling for them. They ran in and found the lamp laying on the floor next to my son, bleeding. Later that night, people messaged me questioning the type of wounds my son had. I hadn’t thought much of it until others pointed out how much it looked like a dog had attacked him. The doctors agreed. By this time, my son’s eyes were swollen shut.”
‘The look on his face told me everything. He said 3 letters that changed my life. ‘D.O.A.’ Dead on arrival.’: Young woman feels ‘overwhelming guilt’ after roommate dies from heroin overdose, finally gets clean
“My ex and I got into an argument. I remember looking at him, and it hit me. I was looking at a stranger. I didn’t know who I was. I pleaded for God to give me a sign. Moments later, I heard sirens. I knew they were coming to our house. I looked out the window and saw 2 firetrucks screeching to a stop. I ran downstairs as fast as I could towards the pounding on the door. Before I could get a word out, the man told me, ‘We got a call that someone has overdosed.'”
‘I felt the doctor reach inside me. Blood spilled out. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes.’: Mom survives ‘near-death birthing experience,’ admits to ‘physical, emotional trauma’ 10 years later
“My son was limp and blue, an umbilical cord choked around his neck. My face was so swollen my eyelids were turned upside down. I heard whimpers, more gushes. I called out to my husband. His voice weakly managed, ‘I love you’ as I was wheeled out of the room. He was left sitting on the hospital room floor, in a pool of my blood. The family my husband and I had always dreamed of was now painfully impossible.”
‘I never got sick as a kid. Until the itching started. Then the horrible, red rash covering my 8-year-old self.’: Touching moment woman realizes her mom was the real ‘cure’ for her Scarlet Fever
“Not even my mom could deny there was actually something wrong with me. She rushed my calamine-soaked body to the doctor. My eyes got as big as sand dollars and my life flashed before my eyes. The only time I had ever heard of a Scarlet Fever diagnosis was on an episode of ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ I didn’t know what to do. So, I did the only thing I could think of in that moment. I cried. My mom slid into the bed next to me.”
‘I fell to my knees crying. ‘Mrs. Marlowe, when do you want her?’ I was determined to give little Teeba a home.’: Mom adopts little girl in wake of bombing, ‘I just couldn’t take no for an answer’
“Her skin was scarred from the bombing. She had virtually no hair left. But all I could see were those big, brown eyes with extra-long eyelashes. As we waited at the gate and the plane arrived, the last passenger walked out and there was no Teeba. My heart sunk. There was no way I wasn’t going to answer this calling.”
‘You don’t belong here and your color is awful!,’ a child said to my 5-year-old African American son on his first day of school.’: Mom worries for her adopted children at school this year, says despite ‘all the goodness, there is hurt’
“Before he even stepped foot into his new classroom, a child on the playground came up to him. At age 5, my son had to come home and tell our family this as we sat around the dinner table. I had to look away so he wouldn’t see my tears.”
‘Mom, I’m gay.’ I was crying so loudly. ‘So what? You’re my son. Nothing is going to change.’: Man loses mother to heart attack, wishes he ‘thanked her for her words’
“It was Christmas time. I’d just finished getting my tree and laid down when my brother called. ‘Mom passed.’ Time stopped. Silence. I instantly threw up. The next day, I drove home. The first thing I saw was her pile of presents. She’d wrapped them and when she finished, she sat down and never got up again. I wish I could’ve thanked her, told her how much her words meant to me. I thought I had more time but, out of nowhere, time ran out.”
‘His arm was twisted and his once rosy red lips were white as snow. I stumbled through my statement while nursing my son.’: Young widow finds love after loss, hopes her son knows how ‘truly loved’ he is by ‘both his dads’
“Our backyard neighbor squeezed the trigger. The bullet traveled over 200 yards to our home, crashed through our back window, and continued across our living room. My postpartum body was weak, but I dragged myself to Justin’s side. Overnight, I became a shell of the person I once was. Later, my friend tried to set me up on a date. ‘Will he think I don’t love Justin anymore?’ We immediately hit it off. ‘Hey Jess,’ he said, ‘It’s so good to see you.’ I hope my son will grow up to be like both of my husbands.”
‘I’m not an addict, but I was addicted to trying to fix one. If you’re lucky, they recover. If you’re really lucky, you recover, too.’: Woman learns firsthand that loving one with addiction will ‘consume you’
“You will stand in their bedroom and plead that you ‘just want them back’. If you watch the person you love disappear right in front of your eyes, you will start to dissolve too. Those not directly affected won’t understand. It is not the person who uses, but the addiction. And yet, sadly… it is not the addiction that dies, but the person.”
‘I promise to choose you. You kept giving me more chances. I won’t make the wrong one again.’: Couple overcomes addiction, ‘mystery pneumonia,’ almost facing life as single parents to now celebrate 10-year anniversary
“The tears were streaming down my face as I faced this man, the love of my life, my soulmate. Our marriage hasn’t been easy. It hasn’t even been hard. It was impossible. I spent years in a haze of prescription drugs, lying, manipulation and selfishness. I broke the law, put my children in danger, stole money from church and our personal account to fund my addiction. He had no choice but to take our 3 children and leave.”
‘You know the one thing I feel guilty about?’ I said. ‘Not socializing more.’ I always longed for a BFF. That never happened for me.’: Woman says ‘I don’t have the group of gal pals, but I’m doing OK’
“I can remember longing all of my life for a best friend, the kind you see in movies growing up. The girls who spend hours together, basically connected at the hip. I’m finally learning to just be chill about it.”
‘But how will they function in the REAL world?!’ People judge us for homeschooling our kids.’: Mom places children in homeschool after relentless bullying, claims they went from ‘depressed shells of humans’ to ‘thriving’
“After a long year of our kids feeling burnt out, bullied, and unsupported at their private school, we made the difficult choice to bring them home. I wish I could say it was an easy transition or that it immediately felt like the right choice. If I’m being honest, it felt like the only choice. They struggled to go to school each day and their passion for learning dwindled. We knew we had to act fast. So, we dove right in, grieving the life we were leaving behind.”
‘Is it cancer?’ I had to tell my son, ‘I don’t know.’ There’s no treatment. We were told go home and live life.’: Twin brother suffers 2 brainstem strokes caused by a cavernous angioma, mom says it’s made her children ‘kinder, better’
“I had 3 happy, healthy, perfect kids. Until I didn’t. Zach called home from the school nurse with a headache. I followed our standard rule, ‘You aren’t throwing up, you don’t have a fever. Go back to class.’ For 2 days, he told me his eyes and ears felt weird. I told a friend, a nurse, that my son was holding his head funny. Within a minute she said, ‘You need to get him checked.’ I said, ‘Oh ok.’ Then she said, ‘I mean now.’”
‘You are our guinea pig. You taught us how to be parents. We had no clue what we were doing.’: Mom pens emotional letter to her ‘first-born child,’ apologizes she didn’t get to ‘hold the spotlight for long’ after new babies came along
“You didn’t get to hold the spotlight for long, did you? You were my only baby for such a short amount of time. You’ll never remember when you had my full attention, or that you didn’t have to fight for space on my lap. You won’t remember sitting around the table with just your father and I for dinner, or how we used to hover over you at the playground. You won’t remember how much we worried. But we will.”
‘Mom, can we play a board game?’ It was 7:11 a.m. ‘Right now?!’ I was groggy, drinking coffee.’: Busy mom slows down, realizes play time is ‘just what she needed’
“After I said, ‘right now?’ he gave me the look of nevermind. I saw it. He knew my question meant ‘not right now’ or ‘we’ll see’ or any of the other things I say when I don’t want to do something. ‘You’re always so busy.’ And he was right. Not in the guilt me way, but in the truth way. His words stuck with me so much as I was sitting there, I decided this morning I’d be busy in a different way. My coffee is colder. But my heart is warmer.”
‘I’m done talking. I’m turning off my phone for a few days. Bye.’ Josh had broken the covenant. I would wait it out.’: Couple work through infidelity together, ‘Our family is loving every minute together’
“My husband was supposed to be home after work and he was late. I called a few times. No answer. He finally called back and in the most emotionless voice said, ‘Ashley, we have to be done.’ ‘What?’…shocked. He said it again. I yelled, ‘What? Whyyy?!’ He was leaving to be with someone else.”
‘The Flash doesn’t wear a seat belt. I’m The Flash, mama.’ He unbuckled. A large rock rolled into my lane.’: Mom loses son in tragic car accident, urges parents to ‘hold your babies tight’
“The rock hit my axle and sent us plummeting into the side of a cliff. With all my might, I tried to lift the heavy van off my son’s tiny body, but he was already gone. People commented how horrible of a mom I was. How I deserved it. I wanted to shake them, tell them how hard I fought to save him. That he held my hand with his little fingers, and told me I was the best mama ever. But no one would have listened anyway.”
‘I walked to the bathroom leaving a trail of blood. I had an ultrasound. They found retained placenta.’: Woman endures difficult pregnancy aftermath, discovers son has a cow’s milk protein allergy
“My son was vomiting and having crazy amounts of diarrhea for days. As I was unpacking his daycare bag, he was standing beside me crying. Next thing I know, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. I now have a 2-year-old with multiple chronic allergies and an 8-week-old heading in the same direction.”
I Started The World’s First Ever Plus-Sized Salon, Because Beauty Shouldn’t Have A Weight Limit
“I went to get my hair done, sat down with my stylist, and the chair BROKE. I needed to make a change.”
‘Mom, I keep thinking today could’ve been my last day. You saved my life. I’m so glad you jumped in.’: 8-year-old son who nearly drowned encourages mom to share his story to ‘help even just one kid stay safe’
“I saw him in the deep end. I called his name. His arms were moving fast but he didn’t answer me. I saw a look of terror in his eyes. I jumped in, fully clothed. ‘What’s going on?!,’ my husband asked. All I remember saying is, ‘He was drowning.’ When he came out, he kept asking to go home. It sounds crazy, but I felt like he needed to get back in the pool.”
‘I’m leaving you, Momma. Daddy, I go with you to make money.’ His daddy hugged him. ‘Not yet buddy, one day.’ Then he drove away.’: Wife warns others looking to join husband’s career path to ‘be sure you’re ready for this life’
“After the teary goodbyes, we walked inside. Our son tossed his shoes off and threw himself on the floor sobbing. It broke my heart because I knew he is now realizing that ‘See ya in 2 weeks’ is a different kind of goodbye. What broke my heart more was the pain in his daddy’s eyes as he drove off.”
‘I have 2 bio kids, 2 adopted, 3 special needs foster children. I wanted nothing to do with the ‘white picket’ American Dream.’: Special needs mom cherishes the ‘beautiful chaos’ of ‘meeting the needs of others’
“‘Your baby has a large mass. Prepare for the worst.’ I was learning how to be married, live in a city where we knew no one, being first-time teachers and parents to a baby who may or may not be okay. The older, wiser folks warned us to slow down. And yet none of this chaos ever silenced the call we felt to pursue adoption and fostering. Our life is absolutely crazy. But I look through my dark-circled eyes at this beautiful mess and know I’m right where I need to be.”