“Oh my god really? Are you serious? Really?!”
‘You’re making me cry at work!’: Starbucks barista learns sister is cancer-free in sweetest way
‘Look, everyone is having fun. Are we going to have fun at the beach, kids?’ It’s a demand, a plea.’: Mom shares glimpse at common chaos of parenting
“‘Look, everyone else is having fun.’ Little does she know.”
I Conquered Parenting Imposter Syndrome
“The age on my birth certificate means nothing to my children. It should mean nothing to you.”
‘You have no purpose in this world. Might as well take yourself out.’: Woman shares stigma pursuing child-free lifestyle after ectopic pregnancy
“Frighteningly, most of these hateful comments came from people raising children. Why did people care so much about what I did with my body?”
I Was A Homeless Valedictorian—Here’s My Journey From Poverty To Perseverance
“Every night in the homeless shelter I thought, ‘When will we ever get out of here? Does anyone even care?’ I had to rely on my dreams to escape the reality I was living. So I drank from a glass-half-full, even when failure, hardship, and death sprawled in my life. I had a million reasons to give up, but I chose not to.”
What Social Media Doesn’t Show Us About Eating Disorders
“Eating disorders aren’t glamorous, trendy, a choice, something someone can just ‘get over’…and they’re not just about food.”
‘Where is the test?’ He reached over and kissed my forehead, never saying a word. I was 17, pregnant, and had no idea what I was gonna do.’: Mom shares journey navigating teen pregnancy
“Monday through Thursday, I was away in college being a student. Friday through Sunday night, I was home being a parent.”
‘I did it, honey.’: Widow gets master’s degree, becomes teacher with support from terminally ill husband
“My husband Facetimed me from his hospital bed, his faded blue hospital gown askew. As we said our goodnights and I love you’s, I put the boys to bed and headed to the dining room. With my head on the table, I quietly cried, the wood slowly drinking my tears. Then I opened my laptop and proceeded to do my homework, just the way Chris wanted me to.”
‘We were having a good day as a family and I foolishly thought I could document it.’: Mom to teen son says ‘I’m learning to smile and take the picture anyway’
“This is an honest representation of us at this moment in time; in the same place at the same time, but with some distance between us. My camera roll has fewer and fewer photos the older my son gets. But I want him to know I still want the picture.”
I’ll Always Remember The Guy Whose Phone Calls I’d Get Too Nervous To Answer (No Matter How Comfortable We Get)
“I remember lace, but now it’s plaid pajamas. I remember staying out late, but now we tuck in early. You’re Chinese ordered in. You’re grocery bills. And kid drop-offs. Our entire relationship just one giant trip to Costco.”
‘It’s apologizing in advance, holding your breath through play dates and parent-teacher conferences, and knowing you are the topic of conversation every time you leave a room.’: Mom’s journey parenting ‘misunderstood’ child with ADHD
“People are saying how if only you were a better parent, or provided more discipline, or followed through more…it wouldn’t be like this. They don’t know that every day you pray about how you can do this ADHD thing better. That your biggest fear is you are giving too much discipline to your often misunderstood kid.”
‘I know it can feel unfair. But through it all, you’ve never complained or compared.’: Mom’s sweet acknowledgment of sister’s patience for sibling with special needs
“I know it might feel like most of my time, thoughts, and efforts are spent on your brother, but please know that I see you.”
‘If it wasn’t for her, nobody would have found us.’: Woman looks out window during meeting, saves 3 men’s lives
“I was thinking about my children. In my imagination, I was never going to make it home. It was ice-cold water out. It was terrifying.”
‘You never know what someone is going through, your doctor included.’: OBGYN asks for patience, understanding amidst short-staffed hospitals
“The next time you get frustrated with the person rushing past you to the elevator, or getting called from the waiting room before you, keep in mind this could literally be the worst day of someone’s life.”
‘Beryl is always there, with a smile on her face.’: Community honors 100-year-old still volunteering at cafe after 18 years
“I’m not ready to put my feet up yet, I’ve got a lot more volunteering to do. I’ll be carrying on as long as I can.”
‘They strapped me down to a bed by myself. I was told healing was not possible for me.’: Woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Bell’s Palsy details journey to becoming ‘badass, resilient human’
“I didn’t know who I was—I thought I was famous and I thought people on the television were talking to me. I even thought my roommates at the time were demons. They were frightened by me and asked me to move out.”
‘If you can get donor eggs and donor sperm, why not a donor embryo?’: Woman shares journey through male factor infertility, embryo adoption
“I don’t think everything happens ‘for a reason,’ but I do believe beautiful things come out of suffering. My perfect children are proof of that.”
‘The day I saw my first trans man, I knew I had been lied to. I told my husband I would never live as a woman again.’: Intersex man, gestational father shares self-discovery journey
“I knew very young I wanted to have a baby. Since the world taught me this is what moms do, I must be a girl. I would soon discover this is not true.”
I’ll Never Judge Someone Who Stays In An Abusive Relationship—I Know Firsthand It Takes Guts To Leave
“I’m sorry. I love you so much. I couldn’t live without you if you left. I’ll never do that again. You make me act this way. I’m sorry, but it’s your fault. I’ll kill myself if you leave. No one will ever love you.”
‘Sometimes I just want to be alone. But when I am alone, I miss you.’: Mom reflects on the paradoxes of motherhood, ‘It’s a beautiful mess of chaos’
“Dirty boots. Messy counters. Stuffies in every corner possible. All signs of this beautiful, messy life we share together. Someday, I will miss this.”
‘The very best thing we could have ever done.’: Special needs mom raises feeding tube awareness
“I no longer cried countless tears over calories. I no longer looked into my child’s terrified eyes when the bottle would come near him. I no longer frantically called my mom asking if 2 ounces was all he really consumed that day.”
Parenting A Teen Is Much Harder Than I Thought, But My Heart Is Bursting With Pride
“Remember the sleep deprivation of having a newborn? Remember the mental drain of potty-training a toddler? Or the worry of dropping your five-year-old to kindergarten? Multiply that by ten.”
This Narrative Of The ‘Bad Mother’ Is So Overplayed, And It’s Time We Put An End To It
“Maybe the mom who wasn’t ‘watching her kid’ was on an important work call. Maybe the mom with ‘no patience’ was just having a bad day. Maybe the mom ‘not enforcing the rules’ has a child with ADHD. Maybe the ‘lazy’ mom who gave her child an iPad just needed a 30-minute break after being non-stop all day.”
‘I’m no longer that angry little girl who was hurt. With my mom, it’s like it never happened.’: Abuse survivor adopted as adult finally has loving mother relationship
“In my mind, I accepted I was born to grow up as an adult without parents. But in my heart, I was broken holiday after holiday needing them. I was torn on my children’s birthdays, when they had no grandparents there. I cried for years trying to fill the void.”
‘You’re not in a morgue. Girls get raped and murdered every day, you’re not dying!’ I had to get out.’: Adoptee opens up about mishandling of her child sex abuse case, escaping home at 18
“‘What happens in this house STAYS in this house.’ I lived in a world where not only my adoptive mother would cover this up, but my own biological sisters AND our assistant pastor. The minute I turned 18, I was escaping.”