“’I just don’t fit here.’ He didn’t feel like he was good enough for us. We felt the weight during the entire process of trying to hold it all together. We questioned if we EVER wanted to be parents. I asked Joel, ‘Do you want to hear about another kid?’ He nodded. ‘Yes.’”
‘This isn’t the place for me. I just don’t fit in.’ He didn’t want to be adopted. We were broken.’: After foster heartbreak, couple adopt teenage boy, ‘He was given to us in our most desperate hour’
‘If someone, anyone, put their knee on one of my boys’ necks for 9 minutes, I’d burn it all down.’: White mom talks privilege, ‘You would do the same for your white babies’
“You know you would, too. But we, as white bodies in this country, have the privilege of having only to imagine it.”
‘He’s different from the others. You know what I mean.’ We woke to a noose hanging in our yard.’: Military wife talks difficulties of interracial relationship, ‘We all need to speak up’
“When we traveled together, the flight attendant asked us and ONLY us if we belonged together. They see a black man. They don’t know he spent half of his life serving this nation.”
‘I saw you pushing a stroller with a pink princess backpack hanging off your shoulder, your daughter giggling as you made silly sounds.’: Woman pens ode to black fathers, ‘Your love is as endless as your potential’
“I saw you verbally tap dance when the police pulled you over, carefully annunciating every syllable and narrating your movements. We locked eyes. Black father, you walk through a world where you’re stereotyped to death, but you still rise.”
‘Even though your vacations may not look or go as you planned make it happen.’: Mom of special needs kids says ‘let go of your vacation expectations’
“I pulled my daughter off a 10-story ledge. I made sure my son was breathing. It was exhausting. As I relaxed on the beach in the shade with my feet up reading a book, I realized I needed to tell you something… vacations won’t look like the vacations from your childhood.”
‘She stands with me on the ledge, not above it. She watches the kids so I can do a Target run. She’s the door I never have to knock on.’: Woman shares ode to best friend
“My husband indulges my dramatic stories, but she’ll ask me to tell it again. He knows what I want in my future, but she knows all the secrets of my past. Marriage is wonderful, parenthood is a blessing, but a friendship that spans that entire journey is like nothing else.”
‘Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for making me ‘Daddy’ to the most amazing kids on earth.’: Widower shares emotional thank you letter to late wife on Father’s Day
“I hate so much that you’re not here right now, but I’m so lucky I get to be Daddy and Mommy for this season. Not a day goes by we don’t talk about you.”
‘I was talking with a friend. I take a deep breath. My 1, 4, and 6 year-olds couldn’t ‘intentionally manipulate’ me.’: Mom discusses the psychology behind children and food
“Fortunately, I DO have the ability. It had been a huge learning curve for my husband who was required to eat foods that make him gag. The brain is good at making associations.”
‘Why are all the other kids her age able to turn and look at their parents?’ I chalked it up to me doing something wrong.’: Mom to daughter with autism says ‘find love in your heart not to judge’
“I sat there, trying to hold back my tears. ‘What does this mean? What about her unborn sister? Will she have friends?’ I couldn’t take it anymore. I just sat there and let the tears flow down my cheeks as my daughter stood in between my legs. I stroked her hair, feeling so afraid for her future.”
‘I kept getting UTIs. My male doctor said, ‘Do you think the pain might be ALL IN YOUR HEAD?’ I was mortified.’: Woman with chronic urinary tract infections urges ‘you are not alone’
“I’d receive a 3-day course of antibiotics and be sent on my way. It would clear up, but come back with vengeance. I was told it was ‘just because I was WITH my boyfriend.’ Fair enough, sex can be a cause, but what did other people do? Stay single for the rest of their life? I was at a loss. All the doctors suggested I was exaggerating.”