“I remember thinking, ‘Maybe we just aren’t the best of parents.’ Little did I know my wife was secretly researching and had discovered a condition. One day, she showed me a video. My heart sunk. I felt dizzy. Straight away, I knew this was what our boy had.”
‘My wife must regret spending her life with me. If she met someone different, she’d have perfectly healthy children,’ I told myself. ‘He is one of 34 people known to have this.’ My heart sank. ‘What? In the country?’ ‘No, in the world.’
‘A manager told me there was a noise complaint of a baby crying. ‘He did not cry, he giggled twice.’ I was told I immediately had to pack up to leave.’: Special needs mom outraged at discrimination in movie theater
“Kristopher looked at me and said, ‘Mom why did we have to leave?’ ‘Are you kidding me? He did absolutely nothing.’ Then she says, ‘Well, can you come another day to see it?’ I looked at her. ‘I work full time. Do you realize what an achievement it is for me to take my boys to see this? I don’t understand why I am being kicked out. Are you serious?'”
‘I cheated on you with a woman I met at the gym. She has a daughter, and I’m her father.’: Woman learns to ‘truly forgive’ after husband’s infidelity left her ‘hurt, betrayed’
“If you had told me 4 years ago I would be sitting in a waiting room with my husband, my children and his affair partner, I would have laughed in your face and called you a liar. But here I am, sitting in a waiting room, preparing for my eldest daughter, my husband’s daughter, to go back for surgery.”
‘What did I do wrong to cause this sweet blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy to suffer like this?’ He woke up so smiley that morning. My husband and I were silent. ‘It’s time,’ the team said. The doors shut behind him.’
“Ten minutes went by…then 30 …then 45. I was in a total panic. Instead of the screen showing he was waking up from anesthesia, it said he was still in the O.R. There was a look of concern in his surgeon’s eyes. ‘For some reason, half of his skull expanded faster than the other.'”
‘I don’t know her name, but she was our hero on our flight home.’: Special needs mom touched by flight attendant’s act of kindness
“He had a sudden meltdown and we couldn’t keep him calm no matter what we tried. This flight attendant asked if she could hold him. I warned her he might get aggressive and try to gouge her eyes.”
‘I immediately began to hyperventilate. ‘Mrs. Ramsammy, we’ve got two brothers in need of a home tonight. They are 4 months and 15 months. Are you able to take them?’
“She told me their names, and I gasped and yelled, ‘You’re kidding right??’ Probably not a response she was expecting. Like what are the chances of that??”
Why Tears Are The Best Gift You Can Give Your Grieving Friend
“Your tears validate their pain, their loss, in a world that has most likely ignored it.”
‘When I was 19 I woke up screaming in pain, as if I was in labor. A million knives were stabbing my stomach. I tried to get to the bathroom, but I couldn’t stand. It became a regular occurrence.’
“I was told it was ‘just the pill’ or ‘just a bad period’ and it was ‘nothing to worry about.’ One doctor told me it was ‘just arthritis’ in my back from being a dancer. I’d never have another boyfriend because one guy had already gotten angry at me for bleeding on his bed sheets.”
‘No, Mommy! I don’t need a potty!’ The kids erupted in giggles. I should’ve been suspicious LONG before. Holland had been consuming juice boxes and popsicles for HOURS, y’all.’
“I go full-fledged panic mode. Something is amiss. I can smell it. Holland: ‘I DONT NEED A POTTY!’ Ben: ‘BAHAHAHAHAHHAA! She doesn’t need a potty, Mom! Our clubhouse ALREADY HAD a potty!’ Golden Retriever: *whimpering slightly* I climb up the ladder. My children are pointing to… A dog bowl.”
‘Momma, why can’t I walk like my friends?’ His legs were sticking straight up in the air, unable to bend. A lady in Walmart was staring long and hard.’
“His 6-year-old brother stepped in. He said, ‘What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen a kid in a wheelchair?’ I’ve lost count of the number of times a parent has told their children, ‘Stay away from that child!'”
‘She knew she was going to die. I was ashamed. It was embarrassing to say, ‘this is my sister and she is a heroin addict.’
“I lived by the, ‘it doesn’t happen to normal middle class families.’ I was wrong. CPS was involved and Ryder was placed in their custody. After a long conversation with my husband we knew we had to get involved for Ryder.”
‘You’re the kind of woman I always wanted. If you weren’t my daughter, I would marry you.’: Woman overcomes father’s sexual abuse, ‘My past doesn’t define me’
“My father made me feel guilty about it. He said I would destroy our family. That he would get deported to Mexico and my family would lose everything we worked so hard for. He told me to say I made it up because I was a rebelling teenager angry at my father. So I lied to them, I told them exactly what he told me to say.”
‘He said, ‘You can look like a wholesome American beauty, or you can look weird and androgynous. We want to wipe all of the wholesomeness out of you.’
“I started counting every calorie, I ignored my hunger, and I’d work out without eating much or anything after. I’d weigh myself whenever I could sneak into my parent’s bathroom. The scale dictated my happiness, the size of my clothes measured my worth. Hopefully I can sustain this starving myself thing for the next ten-ish years, I’d think to myself.”
‘I got a text from my mom. ‘Hey Crystal, give me a call when you get a chance and the kids aren’t around.’ I knew right away it wasn’t going to be great news.’: Woman recounts mom’s terminal cancer diagnosis
“I went to the only place I knew I could actually be alone, and able to talk without little ears around. I sat in my car, in the driveway and I dialed my phone, my mom answered, and we had the conversation. The one that you never want to have.”
‘My sister’s back in town, newly divorced. You should give her a call.’ I heard a knock. He looked up and smiled. I thought, ‘One day, I’ll marry this man.’ I didn’t tell him. Why ruin the moment?’
“A friend asked, ‘What has kept you married for 42 years?’ The last 5 decades have gone by in the blink of any eye. I could see by the look in my husband’s eyes what his answer would be.”
‘Everyone wants a Prince Charming. That’s what I thought I found. I was head over heels and got pregnant within a few months. I ignored the warning signs.’
“Things started to change very rapidly. My possessions were stolen, our new baby gifts pawned, my hard-earned money taken. I only knew he was alive when I would see him post Craigslist ads seeking drugs. There was no turning back.”
‘I blurt out, ‘I want the surgery.’ I’ll never forget the look on his face. What kind of patient asks for a major life changing surgery? I kept replaying the conversation my mother and I had.’
“My mother was my best friend and I couldn’t accept she would be gone soon. I refused to discuss it with her until one day she said to me ‘You can ask me anything you want.’ That was all it took.”
Dear Parents, Thank You For Guiding Me Through Life’s Hardest Moments
“I’m sure somewhere in my teenage heart I was thinking… game on. Then things went from bad to worse . I promptly did what any teenage girl would do… burst into inconsolable sobs by my locker in the hallway of our high school.”
‘They said your child was being very loud. You knew what I was going to ask. You saw the table I just spoke to pointing at you. I got to your table and you looked at me.’
“I know what I was supposed to say when I went to your table. I was supposed to politely tell you to please not have your daughter yell. I was supposed to offer to move you to another area. I was supposed to offend you by not offending you… I did not do any of that.”
‘There was always the nagging in the back of my head telling me I was gay. About four years into our marriage my thoughts crept back up. I illogically came up with a solution. Have a kid.’
“Finally a few weeks later I told my wife we needed to talk. After putting my daughter to bed I sat down with her and told her I had something to confess.”
‘After visiting our daughter in the hospital I came home to find all his stuff gone. The cat was out of the bag. Our daughter was born at 28 weeks and that’s when the real problems set in.’
”There were times I would say to him ‘Is that how you speak to the mother of your child?’ He threatened to get someone to ‘shoot me in my face.”
‘Mom, I made a mistake.’ My boyfriend left me on the side of the road, a burning sensation on my face.’: Young woman escapes abuser, ‘I only survived for my child, but now I survive for myself’
“While I was asleep, he took my phone and began browsing through my messages. I awoke to his voice. ‘Who is this guy you’ve been texting?’ He looked angry. ‘That’s just my friend,’ I explained. ‘Well, don’t text back. You’re flirting with him by texting back.’ I tried once more to defend myself, but ended up pinned down for hours while I sobbed and begged for him to let me go.”
‘I was pregnant with a little boy and a little girl after a decade of trauma. I limped out of his house and drove home over 100 miles away with $20 in my pocket.’
“A handsome former-classmate wrote me on Facebook: ‘I had a dream about you.’ I was thirty four weeks pregnant when my water spontaneously broke and suddenly the pain and trauma resurfaced. Were my babies okay?”
‘Where is Gabriel?’ I remember screaming my boyfriend’s name ‘Gabriel!’ but no reply. My sister found me and said, ‘You are okay, they are coming to help you’ that night was the most confusing and heartbreaking of my life.’
“I saw myself laying in the grass listening to my sister screaming my name looking for me. ‘Marcela! Marcela! I remember her screaming, ‘I’m here but I cannot move!’”
‘My doctors discharged me early so I could chase behind the ambulance that held my tiniest love inside. My biggest fear is living in a world without her.’
“I spent years praying for a baby and now my only child was being diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. You can only imagine the feelings I had. Like most people who have questions, I took to Google.”