“She could see I was avoiding eye contact. She showed up to my house, took my baby. I stood there, staring at her and my baby. Like, ‘What do I do now?’ She looked at me and said, ‘We are fine! GO TAKE A SHOWER. I know what I’m doing!’ Sometimes the kind of love I need is this.”
‘Gabrielle, look at me.’ I burst into tears and told her I was struggling. ‘That’s it. I’m coming over. I’m taking the baby. You are going to eat and shower!’: Overwhelmed new mom thankful to friend for ‘showing the hell up’
How To Be Fearlessly You (From A Recovering People Pleaser)
“One ex-boyfriend told me, ‘I HATE when women tell me no.’ No wonder he liked me, I was his perfect victim! I was afraid to wear my hair curly, so I straightened it every day. I wore colored contacts to look more like the favored girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. I said yes to my professor’s inappropriate advances which led me to being alone in his office where he tried to sexually harass me. I was fearful he’d give me a bad grade if I wasn’t nice to him.”
‘I was pregnant at my college graduation ceremony. Ready or not, we were parents. We were young and dumb.’: Mom realizes she ‘needs to slow down’ as her children grow older
“‘My entire adult life, I’ve been a father. Now I am not sure who I am without them,’ my husband said, sitting across from me at the restaurant. I wasn’t ready for this. I failed to anticipate this. ‘Slow down. You are fast-forwarding,’ you might say. And you would be right. I need to slow down.”
‘If you’re humming a wiggles tune while checking out college campuses, I see you. It’s a crazy ride. And you’re not alone.’: For all the parents raising teenagers and toddlers at the same time
“In our home, we’re currently raising a 17 year old, 14 year old, 7 year old, and 5 year old. For the greater part of my time as a parent, I’ve been parenting children at nearly every possible stage of development, emotionally and physically. It’s confusing, gut-wrenching, and beautiful. All at once. All the time. Every day. It’s knowing I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world, while also wondering if I’m getting any of it right.”
‘I involved myself in a forbidden relationship. It was the savory, alluring fruit hanging from the only tree I was prohibited to touch. Yet, we gravitated to each other.’: Woman divorces husband then loses mom to cancer
“‘It doesn’t look good. I’m sorry.’ Her words echoed through my head, but I dared not let them sink in. Instead I collapsed against the waiting room wall. She had been healthy my entire life. She never smoked a cigarette. She didn’t drink alcohol. When the surgeon exited those double doors, removed her mask and looked at me, I could see it all over her face. My mother didn’t make it through.”
‘I never knew this picture existed. The fateful day we became parents. My heart races each time I look it.’: Triplet mom shares harrowing photo before losing 2 babies, ‘I see beauty. And a miracle unfolding’
“We don’t know who was in this photo, their tiny features are far too difficult to differentiate at less than an hour old. Just moments after my husband took this picture, our two babies were rushed up to the NICU. We never had that picture-perfect moment in the delivery room, the one where a smiling family shows off their precious newborn. Instead, this is our photo.”
‘I hear you talking to friends. You ‘don’t feel like yourself lately.’ I can see tears in your eyes. You may not love yourself right now, Mama, but I do.’: Mom pens appreciation letter to fellow mothers
“I hear you complain to daddy you have ‘huge bags’ under your eyes. I assume it’s because you’re tired. You were up with me again all last night. I really love the way you cuddle me in the middle of the night while the rest of the world is quiet. You make me feel so safe. You may not love the sleepless nights, Mama, but I do.”
‘I’m too tired and anxious to click another one of those Pinterest articles titled, ’17 Ways to Be a Better Mother.’ I just can’t.’: Mom dedicates herself to self care in 2020
“I am SO burned out. My kids don’t respect my needs. My clients push me around. It’s time to show everyone, including myself, where the standard is for how you treat ‘Meg.'”
‘Don’t worry about the Joneses. They might happily trade in that 6-bedroom home for exactly what you have.’: Mom reminds us to be grateful for what we have, ‘if your little place is filled with love and warmth, you’re already rich’
“Years ago, I was married to a different man who cared more about material possessions than his family. We had a big house with an incredible view, nice vehicles, a boat in the driveway. We were, in fact, the Joneses. But inside the front door, life was filled with drug abuse, infidelity, and violence. Two children who never saw their father, or only saw him screaming at their mother. From the outside, we were the envy of neighbors and friends. Inside, it was a nightmare.”
‘I can’t tell my dad, please, you have to.’ I couldn’t say the words. ‘Sometimes we don’t all make it to the end.’: Young woman survives cancer 3 times, says she is ‘finally living her full life’
“My husband held me as I cried and said, ‘I just don’t know if I can do it all again.’ I took a minute to figure out if it was the path I wanted to take. I was so exhausted, I didn’t know what would happen nor was I in a state to even TRY. I dug deep and knew in my heart I had to fight again. I was not going to let my family down by giving up.”