“One patient had thrown his shoe at the closed glass door to get our attention. I picked up the call light, reassessed their vitals, and they were comfortable. I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that patient was TALKING to me and LESS THAN 30 minutes later this patient was DEAD!”
‘I lost 3 patients within the first 8 hours of my shift!’ A new person would come in, sicker then the one before.’: ER nurse begs people to follow quarantine rules, ‘don’t think of yourselves being ‘STUCK’ at home, but being SAFE at home’
‘Our 2-year-old needed a hug. I love how much they both enjoyed this moment. There was no disdain for the annoying toddler. Just love.’: Dad says the expectations of parenting have ‘shifted
“When I was a kid, it was clear parents expected us kids to ‘behave.’ Some days are super hard. I’m going to hold onto this moment to remind me of how easy some days can be, too.”
‘I slid onto the floor as I heard the doctor speak. ‘Why do I have to have cancer again, Mama?’ Time seemed to freeze.’: Girl battles neuroblastoma, ‘Izzy continued to fight and the rest of the world just kept going’
“The call came just like it does in the movies. I sat in a rocking chair in her room and slid onto the floor as I heard the doctor speak. I stared at this little play clock. I can still see it so vividly — its tiny yellow hands stood still on its pink face. Time seemed to freeze in those moments. I would remember it as the day our life stopped.”
‘Today my 80-year-old in-laws drove by to sing to me. ‘We know this isn’t the birthday you imagined, but we wanted a chance to see to you in person.’: Woman says ‘the power of human connection’ is stronger than ever
“Let me tell you, this is a weird time to have a birthday. But do you know the nice part about a birthday during crisis? Loved ones still ‘show up.’ It might not be physically, but they are still there.”
‘He’s taking my phone away. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.’ I barely hit send before it was ripped away and sent through the wall.’: Domestic abuse survivor says ‘I am taking my power back’
“I hid in the corner in a fetal position, trying to protect myself. I texted my best friend in a panic. ‘I just need someone to know I’m not dead.’ I barely hit send before my phone was sent through the wall. After I escaped barely alive, my dad gave my abuser a place to live on his property.”
‘You need to decide which baby you want to save.’ Inside, I was starting to unravel. The pregnancy was unplanned, let alone two babies!’: After difficult twin pregnancy mom says ‘God is always here for us’
“We’d worked so hard to get here to just go into labor now. It didn’t seem fair. I kept looking over at Ry for reassurance. Inside, I was freaking out. In my blind ignorance, I was telling myself this is something that shouldn’t be happening to us. ‘If they make it, it is because their trial has made them stronger.'”
‘My husband texted me a photo of her, sitting in the doctor’s office getting her pink cast on with her Mom. My heart hurt, but I couldn’t express it.’: Stepmom says the key is to ‘step up, step back, and step over’
“I burst into the tears during that scene and immediately excused myself to get more popcorn. I would give my two cents on Joe’s response to a text or an e-mail. Joe and I would end up fighting about a conflict that wasn’t between us to begin with! In the words of my dear friend Elsa… ‘Let it GO!’”
‘My husband doesn’t surprise me with flowers or celebrate our first date, but he always refills my drink without me asking.’: Woman says ‘marry the guy who sends you funny memes’
“I married someone who doesn’t make me feel ‘less than’ because he makes more money than me. Marry the kind of guy you want your daughters to one day date.”
‘I haven’t cleaned out a single closet or sorted a single pile, and neither have my children.’: Mom says ‘make the most of your time during quarantine, whatever that may mean’
“There is no grand prize for the person who emerges from quarantine with the tidiest yard, the newest recipes tried, or the longest list of books read. For some, getting through means doing less.”
‘I used to get in pictures with my kids and husband to take selfies, but everything feels and looks different now.’: After losing daughter to flu mom says ‘I will always and forever be beautifully broken’
“My life was ‘picture perfect,’ you could say. Now, I look at myself and I don’t know who that woman is. I have no idea who I am without her. A part of me died when she died.”