“Every mama’s heart is burdened with the weight of her children’s fleeting childhoods. But the beauty is that we are still Mama. They may be too big to carry, or are living with their spouses, but we are still Mama.”
‘I caught a glimpse of my 12-year-old daughter and wondered who that woman was.’
‘This is for the dads who came running when we yelled, ‘Come quick, something’s wrong.’ The dads who asked, ‘Can I hold her now?’ because that time was precious.’
“The dads who said, ‘It’s okay,’ even when it wasn’t…”
Why My Reproductive Health Is None Of Your Business
“The purpose of me writing this piece is about people constantly feeling the need to make unwelcome comments and scrutinizing women’s bodies in particular.”
‘When she dies you’ll search for her, no matter how long she’s been gone. When you are walking down the aisle, when your baby is born and when the holidays come around, you’ll search the room for her.’: Woman reflects on the holidays after losing her Mom
“Then one day you won’t have to search any longer, because you’ll find her.”
‘I open up a box of tampons and they all come falling out. My son asks, ‘what’s that?’ I say, ‘they’re baby mice!’ ‘Aww cute!,’ he said, while I’m internally laughing.’: Woman’s son hilariously embarrasses her at doctor
“My son starts saying cute things at the doctor. He looks her in the eyes and says, ‘My mommy puts baby mice in her bum bum.’ The doctor looks horrified and says, ‘pardon?'”
‘He was 6 months old and only 9 pounds. I am a living nightmare. They knew it was all a tremendous f*ck up. They knew he was like this because of them.’
“I got the call around 3:30 a.m. I spent 9 months preparing for that call. 9 months worth of nights obsessively checking the volume on the phone, making sure it was charged, that it was close by, that I hadn’t somehow missed any calls. Well I got my call. Loud and clear.”
‘We brought our newborn home from the hospital and she was showered with attention and gifts. When we brought our 1-year old foster son home, he was not.’
“People did not come banging on the door to see him and hold him for the first time. People did not ‘Oooh and Ahhh’ over him. When we first told family we were adopting, we were greeted with….’That’s scary!’ ‘Are you sure?'”
‘You wouldn’t have lost weight at the holocaust.’ I had things like ‘fatty’ and ‘ugly hippo’ scrawled across every school book page. I felt like dying. I felt like giving up.’
“I was shoved down the stairs by a drunk guy at a party. ‘You are going too slow,’ he said as he pushed me. Once again, visuals of high school flooded my head, and I started to feel myself giving up.”
‘He didn’t want what he’d been given. He would hardly even look at it. He wanted the gift presented to somebody else.’: Mom says the world would be better if we stopped wishing for others’ gifts
“He didn’t want to trade. Punches were thrown. Timeouts were given. But I get it. I totally get it.”
‘I did something horrible. I broke all my rules. I told my son not to eat too much crap or he will get fat.’
“I can’t believe I said it. The words rolled out of my mouth and I immediately regretted it.”