“This was the text that would change my life: ‘When you get home, I think we need to go to the hospital.’ I stormed into the hospital, ‘My wife is in labor!’ The nurse had a leg, I had a leg, and I was about to help deliver our son. I remember saying, ‘That was the craziest sh*t I have ever experienced.’ I would kill for him, and I mean that in the sincerest way.”
‘Dad, grab a leg.’ Wait, what? Aren’t I supposed to be all scrubbed up, brushing the hair out of her face while she pushes?’: New dad says being a parent ‘has been the best investment I ever made’
‘Mr. Peter, can I call you my dad?’: Single man adopts 11-year-old from foster care after biological and adoptive family abandon him
“I received a call from my social worker. ‘Can you take in an 11-year-old boy, just for the weekend?’ His birth family abandoned him at 2 years old and now, his adoptive family of 9 years left him at a hospital like some disposable object, never to return. All their promises of a forever family were thrown out the window. Helplessly crying tears of anger, I asked, ‘Where will he go?’ There were no family members to contact, no foster homes available. ‘He’ll be placed in a group home.’ There was no way I could let that happen.”
‘I fell straight through the attic to the concrete garage floor. Cheated on for years, all I could do was wonder, ‘Why? How long before he decides to move on?’: After accident, woman says husband has ‘shown me what real love looks like’
“Life seemed perfect. Everything was falling into place. Then a tragic, freak accident changed everything. ‘Your bones resemble a scrambled jigsaw puzzle.’ I am learning to walk again. ‘Whatever happens, we are in this together.’ He had to lift me up, carry me around, bathe me, and feed me. His life changed just as much as mine did.”
‘Even at 9 months pregnant, I spent a few days a week at the gym. ‘You look FAT.’ I cringed when people wanted to snap a photo.’: Mom of four encourages moms to embrace their normal
“I was in the best shape of my life when I got pregnant with our rainbow baby. Holding my 8-day-old baby, all I saw was that belly. I felt like a failure when the weight didn’t fall off a month or two later.”
‘I called my husband to say, ‘I don’t want to live anymore. I can’t keep fighting this.’ I’d hit rock bottom, then discovered I was pregnant.’: Woman survives fatal Biliary Atresia to birth miracle baby, ‘I defied all odds’
“During church, I kept feeling my phone vibrate. After the third call, I decided to step into the hall. I noticed a voicemail from a friend. ‘Hannah, we have a liver. I need you to call me back NOW.’ The phone slid out of my hand and dropped to the floor. In complete shock, I whispered, ‘I got the call, Mom,’ as tears started running down my face. She went ghost white. At 5.am. they strapped me down to the operating table. ‘No, I can’t do this. I want out.’ I lost it.”
As An Assistant Principal, I’m Sick To My Stomach At What I Find On Students’ Cell Phones
“It gets worse every year.”
‘If you want to say goodbye, you’d better come now.’ She’d only had a bad cold. She died before she hit the floor.’: Mom dies suddenly of congenital cardiac arrhythmia, leaves behind 3 toddlers
“She was just lying there with medications keeping her heart going and a ventilator breathing for her. All I could do was hold her hand and talk to her, tell her how much I loved her, how much those three babies need her, and beg her to come back to us. “
‘It’s normal to not be ‘in love’ with your husband forever. That’s not really love, anyway.’: Woman reminds that ‘love isn’t a chore. We choose each other, in spite of it all’
“We broke up and called it quits. It hasn’t been the first time, but this time, it was almost for real and it made me question whether I was ready to give up the last 7 years. Then a friend of mine said something to me that clicked in my brain.”
‘Me? Why do I have to be the one to make the call? This man did unimaginable things to me.’: After 15 years, woman reaches out to her abuser, ’God was calling ME to forgiveness.’
“On the cold bathroom floor, tears welling up in my eyes, I dialed the number and he answered. ‘This is Kari. The one you sexually abused.’ I could feel my husband’s comforting hand over my shoulder.”
‘Her mom came to parent-teacher conference with weary, troubled eyes. ‘Has she asked you to call her by a different name yet?’: Christian teacher’s ‘heart softened’ after she learns her student is transgender
“I’d had her as my student for nearly 100 days. Instead of spewing my stance, ‘Ummm, there are two genders. God made man and woman,’ I surprised myself. Direct eye contact ceased, and eyes darted to shoes. ‘I thought you’d be upset.’ The next moments will be etched in my mind forever.”