“In the middle of our conversation, a woman walked up and stood before us. She had tears in her eyes. She simply asked for a favor. ‘We have to leave, and I was wondering if you guys could launch ours for us.’ She didn’t say why she chose us.”
‘I quickly read it, a tribute to ‘Trenton.’ He was 21 when he died, just a week ago. I instinctively asked her what happened. He had drowned. My heart broke for this woman.’
‘Step right up!’ my teacher said. I shook my head no. 5 feet from the board someone shouted, ‘OH MY GOD. SHE GOT HER PERIOD!’: Woman shares embarrassing period story turned act of kindness
“I was wearing white jeans. WHITE. Queue the roar of laughter. The jaw drops. The looks of utter disgust. I was mortified. ‘Class is dismissed. Everyone out. NOW.’ He immediately asked if he could give me a hug. I nodded yes through my butt-ugly sobs.”
‘I didn’t want to cry at Cracker Barrel. I could feel the tears welling. I could feel my nose starting to burn. I didn’t want to be the crazy lady crying at breakfast.’
“I was frustrated. But I held him. I snuggled him in my arms. And that’s when it happened. As I half-smiled, she stopped beside me.”
‘Wow, that’s so cool I have 2 moms! May I have a snack?,’ was his reaction at age 5. ‘Aren’t you worried they’ll take the boys back?’ We are not a bit worried. We told him he grew up in her tummy.’
“And then we met her – this gorgeous strawberry blond young lady with the most beautiful green eyes looking at us from across the table. She had one question for us. Our knees were shaking just getting the news. We were not convinced it would be ‘wonderful’ at all. We were intimidated and scared.”
‘I was sent home alone in an Uber in the middle of the night. ‘Just tell me your name!’ I couldn’t remember for the life of me what it was. All I could do was cry. That’s the only thing I remembered how to do.’
“I’ll never forget how I felt. I seemed hungover, except that wasn’t the case. My doctor told me, ‘Have you ever thought that it might be all in your head?’ Everything began to take a turn. I was once the quick-witted friend who always had a joke. Now I was the girl in the back of the classroom, crying because I didn’t know how to be a person anymore.”
‘An ex-boyfriend said I was hotter because I was ‘smaller.’ People would give me compliments like, ‘You’re so thin. You look amazing!’ I was miserable.’: Young woman grateful for health after overcoming eating disorder
“Peers I saw on campus or at bars would point out, as if it was the best compliment one could give, how tiny I had suddenly become.”
‘Do you have any questions?’ All I could manage to mumble was, ‘Will I lose my hair?’ I was 16. I was in high school. I was a girl. I couldn’t be bald.’: Teen girl diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma urges ‘never miss a single thing’
“Three words. That’s all it took. Three simple words. Everything was happening too fast. I just sat there, staring at the wall, trying not cry. When homecoming came, I had this beautiful red dress. I put on heels, makeup. Then I looked in the mirror and crumbled to the ground. What was I thinking? I looked ridiculous. I looked sick.”
‘I was told to ‘Man up.’ Did they honestly think I was just a drug seeker? ‘I can’t keep feeding you with medication,’ my doctors said. ‘The pain will eventually just go away.’ Was I going mad?’
“It started when I was 17, during my last year in high school. One day it struck, and it hasn’t left since. I went dizzy, I felt sick, I was confused. My head was pounding like a freight train. I just wanted to be a normal teenager.”
‘We left with a box. Not a baby. Not our child. But with a box.’
“I resented that box. I wanted nothing to do with that box. It felt all wrong in my hands, but still I couldn’t put it down.”
‘How far apart are your boys?’ When I tell them their age, they say, ‘Oh, you must be busy!’ But sometimes I wish they’d ask me how my body is holding up.’
“About the ball the size of a grapefruit I found in my stomach. The back-to-back pregnancies, two C-sections, the countless hours nursing, and the baby weight that won’t come off. I honestly feel like a deflated balloon most of the time.”
‘My dad was married and had an affair with my mom. I became the product of their affair.’: Woman overcomes childhood trauma, addiction, proclaims ‘I wear my story with pride – all of it!’
“On the outside, we looked normal. But behind closed doors, dark secrets hid. My younger sister woke up while it was happening. She said, ‘Daddy can you do that to me like you do to Shannon?’ He told her, ‘No it’s only for her.’ I was only in 4th grade and it tore me apart. I still hear and feel him breathing down my neck.”
‘In 2 weeks, you will meet the love of your life. And when you do, you will know it.’ But then came a warning. ‘You must do the right thing, or you will be cursed.’ He winked, and walked away.’
“That’s when our eyes met. It was like time stopped. It was like the music on the dance floor silenced, and all I could hear was my own heartbeat. I still remember what the room smelled like. I couldn’t look away. I was frozen. This was him. I knew it, and felt it, from my head to my feet.”
‘He finished his email with one question. ‘Do you want to meet?’ I was taken aback. I went 17 years knowing absolutely NOTHING about him. ‘Yes,’ I replied. I had a gut-wrenching feeling.’
“When I was in high school, I started getting sick. I needed my full health history. My parents called my birth mom. ‘Can you get in contact with Hannah’s birth father? We need this information.’ I remember sitting in the kitchen watching my adoptive dad call my birth dad. HOLY CRAP!”
‘She laid there. I told her one last time, ‘I love you so much.’ I filled my pockets with tissues and walked out.’: Man fills dog’s last day with favorite activities, encourages others to cherish every moment
“A lady behind me in line was excited to see her. After a few head pets, the lady told her to ‘have a good day.’ I almost lost it. I almost fell to the floor. The cashier went to hand me my receipt and I missed. The tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t grab a receipt. I couldn’t speak.”
‘I turned the key, and he clapped. Yep, CLAPPED, yelling out a ‘yeehaw!’ I had a hard time focusing over his hootin’ and hollerin’. He also lived in an RV park. Yippee ki yay.’
“This guy LOVED his truck. He insisted I drive the dang thing. Now, look, I am 5-feet-tall and the door to this monster was 6 feet in the air. But, I’m a sport. I threw my long, blonde hair into a ponytail, tossed my Dolce Gabbana purse onto the seat, steadied my stiletto on the step, and yanked myself in like I was getting on a horse. I prayed we weren’t about to reenact a scene from ‘Deliverance.’”
‘From the master bathroom, I bellowed, ‘I NEED LOVE!’ This is my passive-aggressive way to gain his attention. My husband drops his phone as if it suddenly caught fire, and is at my side in a flash.’
“My husband, who’d been taking in my every word, looks at me, solemnly. ‘Wow,’ is all he can formulate. ‘That seems like a lot.’ I sincerely thought motherhood would look different.”
‘I heard you tell your kids you already ‘can’t wait until school starts’ because they’re driving you insane. Your face and tone were NOT joking.’
“To the annoyed mom at the store, I wasn’t eavesdropping. It can be so frustrating. I get it. But, I WISH I was doing that.”
‘We thought we had reached an agreement. My daughter would live with her dad. But I had no idea how hard they would make it.’: Mom details custody battle and parental alienation, ‘I choose to make the best of it’
“I felt strongly prompted to let her live with her dad. At first I ignored it. That was the worst thing I could ever imagine, and I would NEVER let it happen. Now she’s gone.”
The Moment I Realized We Shouldn’t Compare Ourselves To Moms On Social Media
“What we see on Social Media isn’t always real. Sometimes and often it’s a complete set-up.”
‘I felt a POP down you know where. ‘No! This can’t be!’ Tears streaming, I peeked between my legs. ‘What do we do now?’ I wanted a ‘perfect’ pregnancy. I now know I was totally oblivious.’
“We hadn’t prepared for this scenario. ‘NO!’ I cried. ‘I don’t want a c-section! Please! I don’t want a c-section!’ Crazy-eyed, I waddled as gushes of warm liquid ran down my legs. I completely lost it!”
‘Tell the truth. When you were dating your wife, and she got so comfortable that she started to pack on the pounds, you noticed.’
“You noticed when she started to lose her desire for hanky panky. We don’t need you to lie or pretend that our current reality is different than it is. We just want to be noticed.”
‘My mother-in-law wore a wedding dress to MY wedding. I didn’t even think to ask what she planned to wear.’: Woman shares touching backstory behind mother’s ‘frugal’ wedding attire
“There are a million and one things that can go wrong on your wedding day. Then, she walked in. I see it. My sister kept looking at me, then my mother-in-law, then the cop the venue made us hire. She pulled me aside, hoping I didn’t go for his taser.”
‘After my daughter’s birthday, I realized he’d been lying to me our entire relationship. I watched as the life I expected crumbled away. We longer felt like lovers. We felt like roommates.’
“Shortly after, we found out we were expecting. I was a wreck. I knew no part of me wanted that. I was a child myself, terrified of changing my life. I hadn’t realized he’d been seeking satisfaction from other women. I became uncomfortable breathing the same air as him.”
‘This is my baby now. ‘Mountain View Crematory 31934,’ it reads. It’s been 15 months since I held him as a body, and not as ashes in a bag.’: Mom emotionally explains life after losing baby son suddenly
“‘I had a brother,’ they’ll say. Perhaps he’ll tell people about that morning, watching us screaming over his brother’s body. Or maybe he’ll hold that in his memories quietly, to spare others that sadness.”
‘I choked out, ‘So, their dad and I are no longer living together.’ 8 months into fostering two of the girls, and 2 months after saying ‘yes!’ to adopting, my children’s father and I separated.’
“We had 5 kids and had just celebrated 6 years of marriage. Our entire life crashed, the walls built with facades and fantasies. I was secretly dying inside. It was silent, painful. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be taking family photos without a husband, my children’s father.”