Love is all you need
💕

‘It’s the nicest thing you can do for a mom. Getting hand-me-downs. Mothers giving other mothers their kids’ clothes that don’t fit anymore.’
“Getting a bag of clothes from another mom is like she’s giving you a piece of her heart. That little dinosaur t-shirt she packs in a bag to give to you reminds her of the adventures her little one had in it. They hold memories, and they hold love.”

I remember looking at the doctor and demanding him to leave the room. ‘Wow Crystal you can’t even grow a baby correctly.’ I looked at my husband and we both began to cry. ‘WHY MY BABY?’
‘Hearing the little baby I was growing inside me was already going through so much made me feel like the biggest failure.”

‘Every night, I put a sign on our bedroom door that read, ‘come in and kiss me on the cheek. I didn’t cheat on you.’ I accepted his marriage proposal after 2 months. Almost immediately after we were married, the abuse began.’
“I thought I hit the boyfriend jackpot, my knight in shining armor. He wined and dined me and spoiled me rotten. Within 2 weeks he decided it was unbearable to be away from me and was going to pack up his life and everything in it to be with me.”

‘A nurse grabbed my hand. ‘I’m right here,’ she squeezed tightly and said. I remember looking around the room to find some sense of peace.’
“When they discovered my diagnosis, my hospital room erupted into chaos as nurses rushed in. I remember being filled with fear as they wheeled me away. But when the world seemed so dark, our best friends would step in and help bring us back into the light.”

‘Ten weeks. That’s when I found out I was having twins. 11 weeks, when I was guaranteed I wouldn’t be having twins. ‘Baby B is not going to make it. You’re putting Baby A in serious jeopardy.’
“They must’ve thought I was crazy. I didn’t cry. I didn’t even hardly react, other than to adamantly stick with my gut. I was pregnant with 2 LIVING babies. I sure as hell wasn’t going to just cut the cord because it sounded like a good idea.”

‘My fingers were numb, but I blamed the cold weather. I had feelings of rug burn across my legs. ‘Mommy, my chest feels funny.’ Those were the last words she would hear me say.’
“My mom held me and then boom! I was crying ‘mom’ as I hit the floor. I took her phone and typed, ‘Pull the plug.’ She cried and cried, and I remember her saying, ‘I’m not gonna let you die.’”

‘My kid’s school had a school lockdown today. I saw this on her arm. She says, ‘in case the bad guy got to us and I got killed, you and daddy would know that I love you, and she started to cry.’
“I cried as I watched her innocence get stolen away. To know that my 7-year-old was put in a position to think that thought is absolutely gut wrenching and it’s killing me inside.”

‘I was raised not to have sex before marriage, and now I am unwed and pregnant. I sat in the bathroom alone and terrified.’
“I found out he was seeing another woman and everything came crashing down. I ruined myself all for someone who never loved me.”

‘I’m trapped. I wonder how many times I can grimace when he touches my arm or roll away from him in bed before he quits trying altogether.’
“I don’t want to be touched. I don’t think about my fairy tales anymore; I just read them on repeat to my children. I’m in survival mode.”