“When little Rylan first showed up, I was so nervous. The moment I saw him, I felt attached to him. I was ready to be a mom. My heart grew for our baby too. I would sob every time I had to drop him off for visitation. The day he left was the hardest day of my life.”
‘We have an emergency placement for a 3-week old baby boy.’ I stared at the baby who had been mine and cried in front of the social workers.’: Foster mom recalls pain of giving child back to his mother
‘I chose to wear headphones. I didn’t want to hear or see Lily, afraid she would die. I kept my eyes affixed on my husband.’: Parents who lost twin daughter navigate marriage through tragedy, ‘We weren’t remotely prepared for what lay ahead’
“My husband encouraged me to look at my 1-pound daughter. If Lily died, we agreed to sell all our belongings and move to a beach in Hawaii, disappearing until we felt strong enough to return – but Pat knew Lily was strong enough to survive. I had intense, terrifying thoughts. This is not what we anticipated when we took our vows, but we faced each day together. We’ve come so far from stupid teenagers breaking curfew for 5 more minutes together, but if they could look ahead, I know they’d be pretty damn proud of us, too.”
‘Invite them in. Show them the real you. Cry, laugh, spill your insecurities. Take a chance and find your people.’: Woman thankful for true friends she can ‘do real life’ with
“Find that friend you can spend all day with and not get tired of. The one who shows up uninvited and knows she’s welcome. Who cheers your victories and calls your bullsh*t. The one who asks how you are, and actually listens to the answer. That one who knows the reason you turned down a night out is because you have strict plans to wear sweatpants and do nothing at home by yourself. And she loves you anyway.”
‘You ruined it all.’ I looked in my husband’s killer’s eyes. I let go of my intense anger. He took my husband, but he will not take me.’: Wife confronts husband’s killer in court, ‘I vow to NEVER EVER let him control me’
“I chose my son’s life over avenging my husband’s death. But I had one stipulation — I wanted to address him at the sentencing. I was nauseous yet confident. I’d written my speech as a story that started from the beginning. Our love wasn’t typical, our marriage unique, and my husband was truly better than most. My hands shook as I walked forward, my voice cracked as I spoke, but I made it through. By the time I finished, the packed courtroom was in tears. I dreaded the day he would be free.”
‘Did you know I was there? I greeted you in a comforting voice. ‘We’ve done all we can do,’ the doctor said. I didn’t want you to go.’: Nurse pens emotional ‘thank you’ to dying patient as she struggled to ‘hold back tears’
“They said it was time… I was scared, could you tell? My hands were trembling. Did you see how I kept looking up at the ceiling to hold back tears? I couldn’t breathe. I rolled you to your side and you let the last of the air out from your lungs. As I combed your hair, did you hear me whisper to you that ‘YOU are truly loved’? I don’t understand how I could have this kind of love for someone I barely even knew. I can’t explain it.”
‘Let’s raise our cold coffee mugs for every torn piece of wrapping paper we’ve picked up in the last 48 hours.’: Woman pens appreciation letter to moms who worked hard to make Christmas magical
“For every piece of cardboard we’ve folded to fit in a garbage bag (tetris has nothing on us, mamas). For all the months spent thinking about, searching for, and finally finding the most perfect gifts. All the time spent tracking packages from Amazon. We’ll never get this Christmas again. This one right here, right now. For next year, our little hearts will be another year older, another year wiser.”
‘I can hear him singing, ‘Hip, hip, hooray for Christmas Vacation.’ I can see him lighting the fireplace. Memories, never to be again.’: A year after husband’s death in plane crash, mom’s advice on surviving grief during holidays
“I can see him turning the thermostat to 68, knowing dang well it’s freezing outside and the heat should be set to 72. I can also see him baking cookies with the kids, and letting them decorate the tree. The problem is, these are simply memories, visualizations of what will never be. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
‘There’s a 90% chance your baby will be born with Down Syndrome.’: Couple prepares for rare Down syndrome Diagnosis, ‘a diagnosis didn’t change our love for this little life inside of me’
“I had no idea just a couple of days later, we would experience a loss and pain we were never prepared for. Our loss made us stronger. ’Your scans showed a high probability your baby will have Down Syndrome.’ How can I be a good mother when I hate being pregnant? I just didn’t want to be pregnant anymore.”
‘Lisa, marry me.’ ‘Ask me when you’re sober,’ I’d say. With enough alcohol, he’d tell me he was God’: Woman spends years with alcoholic, realizes ‘I didn’t have to stay with him to prove I was tough enough’
“Will took me to a graduation party for his ex-girlfriend. Turns out she was younger than I was. He’d started seeing her when she was underage, causing a scandal. We both had a lot to drink. By the time we got back to my apartment and crawled into bed, fueled by seeing him interact with his ex, I was determined to consummate what we had going on. I thought it would help me keep him. I did. We did. I convinced him. I woke in the morning to find he was gone. There was no note. Nothing.”
‘I’m not just a single woman looking for a mate. I’m a mother. Nobody talks about the other kinds of messy.’: Mother of two opens up about changed family dynamic after remarrying.
“And that’s when I realized motherhood is not picket fences and perfectly packed school lunches in bento boxes. It’s stressful and complicated while also being fulfilling and making your heart fuller than you ever imagined. It’s good mixed with ugly. It’s yin and yang. It’s real life.”