- Today, my dad came home with roses for my mom and I. “What are these for I asked?” He said that several of his coworkers were complaining about their wives and children today. He realized how lucky he was that after 20 years of marriage, and raising a daughter for the last 17 years, he still had nothing to complain about.
- Today, when I asked my grandfather for some relationship advice, he said, “Honestly, the moment I stopped trying to find the right woman, and started trying to become the right man, your grandmother walked up to me and said, ‘Hello.’”
- Today, it’s been 10 years since I told my best friend Diego that I wouldn’t be able to attend the prom with him because my family was struggling to make ends meet and couldn’t afford to buy me a ticket or a dress. Diego ended up buying me a dress and a ticket, and helping my folks out with money by helping my dad, who had been unemployed for six months, find a good job. Ten years, a marriage, and one kid later, Diego still .
- Today, on our 50th wedding anniversary, my husband took out an old envelope and handed me back the love note I wrote him in the 7th grade.
- Today, it’s been over ten years since I was a bag boy at a local grocery store. On Sunday mornings I held the front door open for our customers and greeted them. One particular older woman loved me for it. She actually told me on several occasions that one day I would make a lovely husband. This afternoon, I walked into that grocery store holding my wife’s hand and the same old woman was on her way out. She held the door for us, winked and said, “I told you so.”
- Today, my wife and I sat down and watched the same movie at the same time. Despite being 9,000+ miles apart overseas on active duty, I felt likeshe was sitting right by me and I suddenly didn’t feel so alone.
- Today, it’s been five years since I adopted a puppy from a high kill shelter that had no time left. Since then I have developed a moderate case of a neurological disease that causes seizures. Believe it or not, the dog is able to detect my seizures before I know. She starts barking hysterically, and keys me into my episode before it starts. So today she is my service dog. The life I saved is saving me every day
- Today, it’s been 28 years since a firefighter saved my life when he rescued me from a burning condo building. In the process he suffered a leg injury that doctors said would leave him unable to walk normally for life. This evening, he put down his cane and slowly walked our daughter down the aisle. My husband of 27 years always .
- Today, I finally stopped being foolish and called an old best friend I hadn’t talked to in over a year. He singlehandedly got me threw one of the toughest times of my life, and in my depression I lashed out at him and dropped him from my life for selfish reasons. He answered the phone with: “Ready to pick up where we left off?” It instantly made me smile. Jason, you .
- Today was my little sister’s 14th birthday. She has Down Syndrome and doesn’t have many friends. My boyfriend picked me up for dinner with flowers, but said they weren’t for me. He came inside and handed them to my sister. She was so excited. He then took us both out to dinner to celebrate.
- Today, I am a poor student, struggling to afford groceries and all the luxuries I was accustomed to. But every time I get a letter in the mail from my poppa telling me how much he loves me, or a phone call from my best friend just because she was thinking about me, I feel like the richest person in the world - in those moments I feel like I have everything I need.
- Today, my mom and dad are recovering heroin addicts. They still go to their support groups, but both of them have been clean for 17 years, since the day they found out my mom was pregnant with me.
- Today, my grandmother passed away. It was really hard on my entire family. She was the glue that kept our family together through many hard times over the last decade. One of my close friends from college showed up at her ceremony. She paid her respects like everyone else, and gave me a huge hug before she left – a sincere hug that helped calm me inside. The interesting thing is, she never met my grandmother before, but she said she came today because, in her words, “Your grandmother is important to you, and you are important to me.”
- Today, my biological mother is deceased due to a drug overdose when I was only 3-years-old. But today I can also proudly say I have the privilege of calling a beautiful woman, who has no blood relation to me, my Mom. She is not my stepmom or official adopted parent. She is my best friend’s mom who loves me enough to call me her daughter, and has for as long as I can remember.
- Today, I got a phone call from my daughter’s kindergarten teacher. She asked me why I wasn’t providing lunch for my daughter over the past few days. Confused, I hung up the phone and asked my daughter what she was doing with her lunches. She said, “Katie’s mom is in the hospital and hasn’t been able to make any meals for the last week, so I gave a few of my lunches to her.”
- Today, after we all watched her blow out the ridiculous number of candles on her giant 100th birthday cake, my grandmother looked up at all 27 of us – her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and extended family – and said, “Look what I started. This family. I am so proud to be a part of your lives.”
- Today, it’s been about two years since my ex-step-father tried to set my mom on fire, leaving her with burn scars on her face. Every week my little brother and I anonymously write a letter to her saying how we think she’s the most beautiful woman in the world (the truth), and we put it in the mailbox. She doesn’t know it’s us. But she cries when she opens them, and she just told us over dinner that the letters she’s been receiving are helping her look up on days when she feels down.
- Today, I helped make food for the homeless. The man I was giving the sandwich to said he didn’t want it. I asked why and he pointed to his friend behind him and said, “I want the birthday boy here to have two sandwiches on his special day. It’s the only gift I have to give.” His friend was elated. People who have nothing and still give .
- Today, my best friend’s new girlfriend, who he’s had a crush on for a long time, finally admitted verbally that she “hates” me. He came up to me today, looking pretty upset, and told me what she said. And then he said, “So I broke up with her. Because if she doesn’t respect you, she obviously doesn’t respect me either.”
- Today, I walked past a woman walking two dogs. One dog was missing a leg, but they were both limping. I asked what happened. She smiled and explained that the injured dog had lost his leg in a dog fight before she adopted him, and that her other dog oftentimes “mimics him so he won’t feel alone and different.”
- Today, after he finished giving his valedictorian commencement speech at his college graduation ceremony, he walked off the stage directly over to me, hugged me for a minute straight, and said, “Thank you for adopting me when I was five, and being the biggest inspiration a child could hope to have in a dad.”
- Today, while playing with my 20-month-old daughter, I pretended to be sleeping. She covered me with a blanket, patted my back, then kissed me gently on the mouth - which is exactly what I do when I tuck her in at night. How closely our children watch us, and what they learn from our actions .
- Today, after my two-year-old daughter, who can’t swim well, fell into our pool and began panicking, the stray dog I rescued from the pound last month, jumped into the pool and pulled my daughter to the shallow steps… all in under 10 seconds before I could make it from my lawn chair on the patio to edge of the pool.
- Today, my baby sister wears her hair short, just like me. I’m fighting leukemia. My hair is short because of my chemo treatment. Her hair is short because she told my mom, “I want to be beautiful like my big sis.”
- Today, I waited at my boyfriend’s house for half an hour before going home. As I angrily walked inside, I heard laughter. My clinically depressed brother, who hasn’t cracked a smile in two months, was grinning as he watched a video on YouTube. Sitting next to him was my boyfriend holding the laptop. We had a miscommunication about where to meet, but when he saw my brother sitting alone he decided to stay and keep him company. His kindness .
- Today, at the nursing home I work at, I watched an elderly couple eat together as they do everyday. They have been married 63 years. She had a stroke and can’t stand, eat, talk or do anything for herself. He doesn’t need to live in a nursing home, but he does just to be with her. Everyday he eats his food, feeds her, and sits next to her looking at her like he must have the day they were married. His unconditional, undying love and loyalty .
- Today, he’s driving to my college apartment to spend my last week of school with me. This will be the first night of the rest of our lives. After 3 years dating long distance, a 12 month deployment to Iraq, and the rest of the time spent 3 states apart due to his serving in the Army, we are finally going to be together, permanently, in one place. Waiting this long for each other, and finally getting to start our life TOGETHER makes me happy and .
- Today my Ex husband asked me to marry him, I said yes. We were married when I was 19, divorced later on and then our lives somehow lead our hearts back together. We are going to be married in 2 weeks, on what could have been our 16th wedding anniversary. Our children cried with joy when we told them today.
- Today, when you dropped me off after we hung out, you called out to me as I stepped out of your car. You said, “Take care of yourself, okay?” and I responded with an absent-minded, “Sure.” But then your voice changed tone. “I’m serious, Jess. You’re important to me. Take care of yourself,” you repeated. You have no idea how much I needed that. Your true friendship .
- Today, as I was sitting on the ledge of a cliff at a park, staring off into the distance and thinking, I turned around to see a girl almost in tears but trying to slowly walk down the ledge to where I was sitting. I got up and walked up to her and asked her what was wrong. She told me she was deathly afraid of heights, but wanted to get over her fear because I looked lonely sitting by myself, and she wanted to make sure I was okay. Her braveness and kindness .
- Today, it’s been eight years to the day since he stopped doing drugs, cleaned up his act, and started caring for his younger siblings full time. One of those siblings is me. When my parents died in a car accident eight years ago, my 18-year-old brother stepped up, got a job, and started taking care of me and my twin sister (who were both 10 at the time) full time. This evening my brother, who is now 26, attended our high school graduation with a proud smile on his face.
- Today, I broke down in front of my dad, frustrated with recently coming out to my family. I began to cry and yelled, “I’m sorry I’m gay!” He grabbed my tear-filled face and said sternly, “Don’t ever apologize for who you are. Who you are is who I love. And who you are is beautiful.”
- Today, my father and I haven’t spoken much in four years because apparently I just don’t fit into his life. Earlier this week my step-dad called me worried sick because he missed my call and I left a voicemail while I was crying. He was ready to drive a couple hours to my school if something had happened. His caring, and the fact that my mom found a man who loves me like his real daughter, .
- Today, after years of struggling with my weight, and dealing with an overweight family in denial, my children age 5 and 7 rode their bikes and ran with me while I worked out. My wife started working out too. My kids are super excited about their upcoming races with me and their mom. Realizing that the things I do and say matter, and that we’re all in this together as a family .
- Today, my mother had my grandfather - my father’s father - over for Easter Sunday dinner because his wife passed away and my Dad was away on business. My mom and dad have been divorced for 13 years, but my mom didn’t want my grandfather to be alone. Her kindness .
- Today, I was behind a bigger guy and his wife in line for a rollercoaster. They seemed to have come with a big group of people, but I could tell he was nervous. When he fit it into the cart tears rolled down his cheeks and the entire group started cheering. It turns out he just lost 100 pounds and hasn’t been able to ride a rollercoaster for 12 years. Every person around him were his friends and they were there to support him.
- Today, I was stressing out over school and work, along with a lot of personal problems that have popped up in my life lately. In the middle of the stress, I received an email from a woman I regularly babysit for. She told me that her little daughter who I babysit cut out my picture from a news article I was in and taped it to her bedroom wall. Knowing that I matter that much to her made me smile, even today.
- Today my best friend, who has been my best friend for over 10 years, confessed that he used to be depressed in high school. I felt like a horrible friend and asked out loud how I never picked up on it. He looked at me, laughed and said, “You probably never picked up on it because I couldn’t help but smile when I was around you. You’re the reason I made it through.”
- Today, I came across my mom’s old journal in the attic. I read a few entries, and they were quite depressing. My mom has always been such a positive influence in my life, so I had no idea her past was so troubled. The final entry was written the day before I was born. I told my mom I found her journal, and asked her why she stopped keeping a journal after I was born. She said, “I found happiness. I finally had something amazing to live for.”
- Today, as my 81 year old mother and I sat in the waiting area of a restaurant, the 1960’s song “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys came on the radio, and she started to smile. “What are you smiling about?” I asked. “This was our song – your dad and I, that is,” she said. “You know, your dad has been gone for almost a decade, and it’s been nearly 50 years since he and I first heard this song playing in a night club. But every time I hear it, it reminds me of that night, dancing with him on our first official date. And that makes me smile.”
- Today, in a little African village where I volunteer as a nurse, I passed out food to hungry children. And since I knew her only food for the day was the slice of wheat bread I had just given her, I did not let her see me cry when she tore the slice in two and gave the bigger half to her little brother.
- Today, it’s been a year since I won my court case. 14 months ago my neighbor was abusing his dog. So I stole the dog, got arrested, fought a two-month legal battle with every cent I had, and won. And now every night when the dog jumps in bed with me I know it was worth it.
- Today, my dad handed me a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towel as we got in the car. He turned to me and said, “I just talked to your mom while she was on her lunch break. She mentioned her windshield got covered in bugs on the drive to work. Since we’re going to drive right by her work anyway, I figured we’d clean them off for her. It’s the little things, kiddo, which keeps love going.” By chance, while my dad was cleaning the windshield, my mom came out with her kids for recess. Her smile and seeing how in love my parents are .
- Today, it’s been five years since I was severely beaten by three bullies at a college party for stopping them from trying to bring a drugged girl home with them. I lost a tooth, received two black eyes and severely bruised ribs from the incident, but I stopped them. This girl was my crush for three years but had never noticed me as boyfriend material until that night. When I woke up in ICU 12 hours after I was beaten up, she was sitting beside my bed, asleep while holding my hand. Since then, we’ve been steadily dating for five years and are engaged to be married. Who says nice guys finish last?
- Today, I received this text message from my fiancé: “I want this too. I want all of it. I want the pointless bickering, the long walks, the late night phone calls, the good morning texts. I want cute pictures with you, to hold your hand, to make food for you, to call you baby. The joking, the wrestling, the fights, the long ‘how I feel’ text messages on the days we aren’t on the same page. I want to be one of those inseparable best friend couples that people are like ‘you’re still together?’ That’s what I want. With you.”
- Today, as she laid in her hospital bed, just before my grandmother took her last breath, she smiled and said, “Hello Charles.” Charles was my grandfather’s name. He died in 1998.
- Today, on our ten year wedding anniversary, my middle school/high school sweetheart wrote me a love letter for the very first time. The final sentence reads, “I love you more every day, and I’m so proud to say we’ve been inseparable since we were dinosaurs wrecking havoc on the playground so many moons ago.”
- Today, four years after I lost my hearing after making a full recovery from Meningitis, my boyfriend of seven years asked me the four-word question every girl wants to hear. But I never imagined how perfect it would look as it did when he signed it to me.
- Today, I was feeling very down while heading out to a family dinner. I was in the back seat of the car with my 12-year-old brother who’s never affectionate to me. My boyfriend had just dumped me, but I didn’t want to tell my family yet. While I sat in the car with my sunglasses on to cover my tear filled eyes, my little brother looked at me a few times and then reached over and held my hand for the rest of the car ride.
- Today, after dreaming about it for the last ten years, she sat down on my lap in my wheelchair with me and kissed me on the lips. And then she paused for a second, smiled and went in for another.
- Today, after spending nearly 24 years of my life self conscious of being a 6’2 tall woman, and being taller than most of the guys, I fell in love and married a guy in a wheelchair.
- Today, after nearly 12 years without a intelligible word spoken, my deaf daughter hugged me tight and said, “I love my daddy!”
- Today, I accidentally sent a text message intended for my husband to my father-in-law. Luckily it only said “I love you.” My father-in-law sent me a really sweet reply and signed it “Love, Dad” for the first time since we’ve been family.
- Today, I work at a high school as guidance counselor, and today was ‘music genre day.’ The principal and administrative staff encouraged teachers and students to dress (appropriately) in a way that symbolizes their favorite musical style. I dressed in the grunge style (a flannel shirt, jeans, and messy hair) much like I did in middle and high school. After work I stopped by the nursing home to see my grandmother who has Alzheimer’s. And for the first time in almost two years, she recognized me! She said, “My sweet Katie!” as soon as she saw me.
- Today, I was in Central Park trying to write a new chapter in my novel. The writing was going at a snail’s pace – I just couldn’t seem to type the right words. And I began to get frustrated and depressed. Then out of left field, an attractive woman sitting on a bench across the path from me got up, walked over to me, smiled, placed a paper on my table, and left without a word. It was a gorgeous sketch of me thinking and writing. I instantly smiled and wrote the rest of the chapter with a grin. And when I was done writing, I realized her name and phone number were written on the backside of the sketch.
- Today, it’s been two years nice my mom lost her battle with cancer. She was 40 at the time and I was 13. Since then her best friend, Joy, has treated me like her own daughter. She picks me up for school 3 days a week on the mornings my dad has to leave early, packs me lunches, takes me to doctor’s appointments, talks to me about the birds and the bees, etc. Recently I told her that I appreciate it, and she replied, “There’s no reason to thank me. As far as friends go, your mom was my soul mate. And although I decided to never have kids, I have one, you. I love you like my own daughter.”
- Today, it’s been ten years since my controlling, abusive ex-fiancé sold my favorite guitar which cost me $900 and took me ages to save for. He sold it on the day I dumped him. When I went to claim my things, he was proud that he had sold it to a pawn shop. Luckily, I managed to track down the guy that bought it from the pawn shop. The guy was really sweet, and gave it back to me for free, on the condition that I accompany him on his front porch for an hour and play guitar with him. He grabbed a second guitar and we ended up sitting there on his porch for the rest of the afternoon playing music, talking, and smiling. He’s been my husband for nine years now.
- Today, it’s been a couple weeks since I got unexpectedly laid off two days before Christmas. Unemployment only pays me about 20% of what I’ve been making for the last five years. I had to move from a 1,500 square foot apartment into a 400 square foot studio to make ends meet. I’ve been really stressed out for many reasons, but mainly because my fiancé comes from a pretty wealthy family. I sometimes worry I don’t financially live up to her expectations. Tonight, she came to see me when she got off work. We were sitting on the couch and I asked her if she was comfortable. She immediately snuggled her head into my chest and said, “This, right here, always feels like home.”
- Today, it’s been exactly six months since I took on the responsibility of caring for my 17-year-old severely autistic brother. He rarely talks and prefers to be alone. Today while I served him his favorite meal for dinner, he gave me a huge hug out of the blue and said, “Thank you my beautiful big sister!” His gesture made me cry from
