“My father would permit himself to watch me as I took showers. My father had to ‘teach me’ so when I started dating, I would be ‘prepared.’ I froze in disbelief. The fear of sending my father back to jail was far worse than speaking up of the wrongdoings. Who else would support my family and me? I wanted to scream, ‘I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!’ I can’t emphasize enough YOU are not alone. I was stronger than I thought. You are now in a safe place.”
‘He bribed me to kiss him like lovers do. He had to ‘teach me.’ He did things fathers should never do to their daughters.’: Child abuse survivor encourages others, ‘Be free. You deserve it.’
‘I still wake up planning when I might be able to get a nap.’: Mom of 5 opens up about daily struggle of sleeplessness
“There are a million reasons moms aren’t sleeping. Those reasons will change, but they don’t go away just because our kids are getting older. Tired is how you feel when you’re giving all you can.”
‘They blurted out, ‘Omg, look at IT!’ Children ran up with cell phones, loudly yelling and recording me. I left the store traumatized.’: Woman with dwarfism shares unique journey
“When I wake up every morning, I don’t look in the mirror and see dwarfism. But I know once I step outside the door, somebody will remind me. A common question is, ‘What do you want to be called? Dwarf, little person, LP, midget?’ I would like to be called Amy, because that’s my name. At the end of the day, I want people to remember who I am, not what I look like.”
‘Did I ever think you were mean and not like you?’ I knew she was leading up to something.’: Stepmom blames movies for giving stepmoms ‘a bad rap,’ ‘Come on, Hollywood, help some sisters out!’
“My stepdaughter has only known her parents being apart. They split when she was 1. I assumed she didn’t have any issues about living in two homes. She brought up ‘Cinderella’ and how the stepmom was mean. Her response made me tear up. ‘I think we are really special. It’s different with us.’ I know it’s not easy for all blended families. The crucial piece is to have a cordial relationship with her mother.”
‘I cried in the truck. I cried getting out of the truck. And I cried down aisle 5 at the local grocery store.’: Woman’s realization about grief wishing Nana could be there for her children
“We celebrated birthdays for two of my sons. Wanting my mom here to celebrate and spoil her grandsons was overwhelming. I even made a last minute run to the grocery store, just to let the tears pour. Then I realized she was there at the party for her grandsons.”
After 15 Years Without Contact, Man Nervously Knocks On Biological Mother’s Door
When Jonathan Scott Hernandez was 12 years old, his life took a very unexpected turn. His parents got separated and he went to live with his father. This was the life event that would cause the then-sixth-grader to lose touch with his mother, Linda, and younger sister, Jericha, after they moved away to Florida. Today, …
‘I knocked on the door. ‘I remember everything you did to me.’ We drove from California to Texas, just so I could look him in the eye and say it.’: Sexual assault survivor fosters 26 children, ‘I want to bring them hope’
“I remember my grandfather always calling my name, looking for me. While most kids were dreaming of graduating high school, I was piecing together horrific memories. I remembered the smell of the burnt orange carpet when I’d hide under the bed. I remembered the knick-knacks on the dresser I focused on to escape what was happening. Many people ask me, ‘Why in the world do you continue to do foster care when your own biological kids have left the nest?’ The answer is simple: I’m meant to love people through their pain.”
Mom Famously Gave Up Rare Triplets With 2 Conjoined At Pelvis. 17 Years Later, They’re Thriving
Two of the babies, Macey and Mackenzie, were conjoined at the pelvis and shared a third leg. And since their intestines were entwined, separation surgery would be incredibly risky.
‘Why did you waste so much money making a family when you could just get pregnant the REGULAR way?’: Woman candidly shares the struggles of being an LGBT mom
“We get told our family is a sin and our kids are having medical problems because we shouldn’t be together, and we should each be with a man.”
‘Is she breathing right now?’ She was limp, almost lifeless. I watched in fear as they loaded my tiny 1-month old baby girl into the ambulance.’: Baby is born with rare chromosomal deletion, ‘We basically won the lottery with her.’
“Hattie had been born with a significant deletion of her first chromosome. We had no idea what this all meant. Hattie was one in a billion. We received a plethora of mail. ‘Dear parent or guardian of a child with special needs.’ Special needs? Hattie doesn’t have special needs, does she? As far as we knew, Hattie seemed completely normal to us! We have learned to avoid the CAN’Ts and focus on all the CANs.”