“My partner was by my side, holding my hand as I screamed and pushed. My midwife still told me how well I was doing. ‘I’m so sorry, your baby has died.’ A part of me died, too. We weren’t prepared for her to not come home. I was a mother of two, but the public only saw a mother of one.”
‘A stranger asked, ‘How many children do you have?’ I froze. I couldn’t utter her name. We weren’t prepared for her not to come home.’: Mom of baby born still urges ‘my daughter isn’t invisible’
‘She melted into me and really let it all out. ‘IT’S NOT FAIRRR,’ she cried hard. At that moment, she was all of us.’: Mom comforts daughter through big feelings, ‘Life as she knew it was taken away’
“She had been looking forward to this Jell-O. She had really, really wanted it. In a split second, everything changed. My 3-year-old was all of us today.”
‘Food was for ‘growing boys.’ I would take an empty lunch box to school so I looked like I fit in.’: Woman overcomes lifetime of eating disorders, ‘I love me for me’
“I was a talented singer, but because of my looks, I was never picked for the lead. I wasn’t the pretty leading lady in Mary Poppins – I was a chimney sweep. One year, I was asked to sing for the lead role but stand in the wings out of sight, while another person acted.”
‘I went into my late wife’s inbox and found some humbling words she wrote about what I meant to her.’: Widower thanks late wife after finding lost emails, ‘You helped me all these years’
“I haven’t cried in quite some time. But tonight, I did. It was as if I could hear her voice, something I haven’t heard for so long.”
‘My card declined at the grocery store. I stood outside my car door, ready to jump in, when a car pulled up next to me.’: Mom drawn to faith by random acts of kindness, ‘I’ve been getting signs for a long time’
“As he walked by he said, ‘Hey, I’ve been told to tell you to listen to 89.9 FM.’ I cried. Well as best as I could.”
‘I was ‘too flirty’ when I wanted to be with friends, ‘too uncool’ when I wanted my family. All I had left was him.’: Woman escapes abusive relationship, ‘Now, I know the importance of loving yourself first’
“I was told time and time again, ‘Nobody will love you as much as I do and you’ll never find someone else who loves you as much as I do.’ And I believed him.”
‘He was hunched over in our guest bathroom, holding a gun. My birth control failed. I found out I was pregnant days before.’: Woman survives traumatic divorce, ‘You always have a voice, use it’
“I panicked, my body uncontrollably shaking. Standing in our apartment hallway, soaked in sweat, I tried to stay calm and rationalize with him. The moment I had always dreamed of in my nightmares was finally here. He was going to kill me and our unborn baby.”
‘You are a masterpiece, beautiful girl. You can’t compete with an edited image of another girl. You’re already valuable.’: Mom says ‘your worth cannot be measured from the outside’
“When I delivered you in the hospital and saw your face for the very the first time, I was instantly in love with all of you. God gave you the exact color of eyes and hair on your head, and gifts and talents for a reason. Your worth and value can’t be measured from the outside.”
‘I was a having a really crappy day.’ We finished our transaction. ‘I want you to know your awesome attitude really cheered me up.’: Mom surprised by act of kindness by local restaurant, ‘The world needs more people like her’
“A dude greeted me at the door. There’s some writing on my to go bag, but I don’t pay much attention to it. I thank her again, grab my food, and head out the door. When I get home, I realize it. I cried. It was enough to turn my whole day around.”
‘You can’t find the energy for that cool craft project someone sent you or to bake cookies with your kids, and it’s OKAY.’: Psychologist urges ‘do what energizes YOU’
“If you’re dedicating your energy to caring for your child’s needs instead of a craft project, academic task, or home-cooked meal, YOU. ARE. NAILING. IT.”