People Are Sharing The Moment They Realized Their Mom Was "Just A Girl," And I'm Sitting In A Puddle Of Tears
1."I took my mom to an Air Supply concert once. I found cheap-ish tickets and invited her to go with me, not thinking it was going to be a big deal. Seeing my mom singing and dancing her heart out shocked me in the best way possible. My mom is usually introverted and reserved, but she was something else during that concert. That night, after we were back home, she told me that that was her first concert in 14 years. It made me emotional. Our mothers are really just living life for the first time, too, and want to experience all the magic life gives."
—Bradley, California
2."My mom lives in a senior community, and they recently had a sockhop. My mom went dressed as Rizzo from Grease because Sandy was 'too pure,' and she likes 'bad girls' better. Not only did I realize my mom is still just a girl, but she's also a badass."
—bblackberri35
3."My mom was only 14 when she met my dad, and he was several years older than her. She was an innocent young girl being pursued by someone too old for her at the time. She married him at 18. Had she not met my dad, and her life had gone a different route, what would that girl's life be like now? Would she have followed her dreams sooner? I believe she would have."
—Kim, 38, Oregon
4."My 'just a girl' moment was a few years ago. My mother loves stuffed animals and has a nice collection on her bed. She grew up with two brothers and little money, so her brothers' toys were prioritized over hers since they could share. My mom never got much, but now she buys all the toys she wants!"
—alexandra733654
5."When I watched my mom look at her grandmother in her casket just before the funeral. All I saw in that moment was a little girl who loved her grandmother so very much, saying goodbye. They were the best of friends. And then, my mom turned to my siblings and me and supported us during the service. I don't think she ever really got the chance to just be sad because she was so busy caring for everyone else."
—Anonymous, 28, Tennessee
6."My mom, who's been a nurse for 40 years now, grew up loving Barbie. She told me once that she knew she wanted to work in healthcare after having a Barbie who wore a great pair of horseback riding boots. My mom moved as a child, and one of Barbie's boots got lost, so my mom made a cast for her leg so she could still ride her horse without a boot."
—Liz, 30, Texas
7."When I was in college, my mom lost her mom, dad, and brother all in the span of one year. After they all died, I got a call from my college bursar saying that I had money that had never been claimed, and so they sent it back. I called my mom and yelled at her, asking why she didn't check the mail and telling her I lost a few thousand dollars. She apologized and said she was dealing with so much that it was possible she didn't see the letter or threw it out by accident. Hearing that made something in me click. I couldn't imagine losing my whole family and not going numb. At that point, I realized my mom was just a human being going through some shit."
—flyerboy6
8."When I told my mom I was pregnant (I had a high-risk pregnancy), she wasn't very supportive. I didn't know why at first. She didn't even want to come to my first appointment, even though I begged her to. It broke my heart and fractured our relationship until recently. I was struggling with postpartum, and she was there for me when I was having an episode. She held me and told me she understood. She then explained why she was so distant and unsupportive: before having my older sister, she'd been pregnant with another baby, whom she lost when he was two months old. My mom didn't want me to potentially experience that loss or mental warfare at such a young age."
—queenlovie
9."When my mom brought me a Mother's Day present despite me not being a mother. When I asked why she gave me one, she said, 'I don't have my mother anymore.' It made me realize how much daughters will miss their mothers, regardless of age."
—Amanda, 27, Indiana
10."My mother, who can only be described as uptight and disapproving of all things even remotely 'edgy,' has a belly button piercing. My dad was the one who told me, and my mom confirmed. She even explained how she was desperate to hide the piercing from her parents after she got it. She then revealed she loved 'goth' music when she was my age and always wore all black, which she also hid. I never thought in a million years that my mom would have allowed herself to get any piercings other than in her ears. I especially never imagined that a woman my grandparents described as a 'golden child' would have ever hidden anything from them. As someone who is a bit 'edgy' and 'alternative' but not always comfortable expressing their style, hearing that my mom was similar to me when she was young was eye-opening. Maybe we're more similar than I'd like to admit."
—Slate, 19, California
11."My mom got pancreatic cancer when she was 83. Thank God I was able to be around to help during those few years. She died at 84, a week before she would be 85. She said to me one day, 'I am so sorry you are having to help me.' I told her that she had taken care of me all my life, and that I only wished I could have done more for her. I realized in that moment how much my mother had given up in her life just to take care of my dad, brother, and me. I miss her every day and wish that I had spent even more time with her. She never even complained about how bad she was feeling."
—Anonymous
12."My moment was when we were going through my mom's high school and college photos, and she excitedly narrated the backstories behind each one. She spoke of the holidays she went on and the volunteering she used to do with her huge group of medical college friends. She looked so young! For a long time, I saw her as this authoritative figure. However, with my experience and being older than she was at the time, I was able to recognize that she sacrificed her education, family, and friends (values I could never forego) to move across the earth for marriage. She had a whole life before marriage and potential for a prestigious career, but started from scratch in Australia, building a life for me. It is extremely satisfying watching my mom be her young self again as she is beginning to realize that she can, in fact, live like she did in her stories."
—Anonymous
13."After my dad passed, it took my mom a while to get back into the dating scene (understandably). But when she did, and she had a first date planned with a man her friend introduced her to, she nervously called and asked if I could help her with her hair and makeup. She looked incredible that night. She tried on outfits while I helped her choose which one to wear, and I saw my mom in a different, but even brighter light. She ended up marrying the guy."
—Aracely, Florida
14."I wish this story were more positive, but it gave me such insight into the generational trauma surrounding body image issues. My mom shared with me the first moment she felt shame about the size and shape of her body. Her mom had cut out a picture from a magazine in the late '60s or early '70s, taped it to my mom's bedroom mirror, and said to her, 'You could look like that if you tried.' It broke my heart for my mom, knowing how many diets she had tried since before I was born, and how much smaller-sized clothing my mom held onto because she thinks she'll fit into them again one day. It's like she feels like her purpose is to make her body smaller, and I hate seeing her that way."
—Anonymous
15."It took me until my early 20s to really start dating, and even then, I found it hard to talk about it with my parents (whom I was living with at the time). I remember talking about some of my dating anxieties with my mom and having her tell me what it was like when she first met my dad. She had only been a year or two older than I was at the time, and already divorced from a bad marriage. She had no interest in dating again, but she and my dad became friends, and now they've been married for almost 30 years. Hearing her talking about dating at my age, with some of the same struggles I have and others I could never imagine, really put her life before me into perspective. My mom was just like me — a young woman with a whole, complex life, just wanting to protect her heart."
—Anonymous
16."My mom was only 19 when she had me. By 23, she had three kids, and by 30, she had five. We never really got along when I was growing up. My mom was a single mom, so she worked all the time, and we were never able to have a close bond; I felt like she never understood me. I'm 31 now, and I've been actively trying to work on my trauma for a couple of years. I realize now that my mom was just a child having children. She was kicked out of her house by my grandparents for getting pregnant at a young age, but she still worked her butt off to give us a good life. I understand now that my mom was doing the best that she could, and that she was just a girl with no guidance on how to raise children. It breaks my heart."
—Anonymous
17."There were two situations where I saw my mom as 'just a girl.' The first one was before COVID-19. My mom and her friend's daughter had come over to do a dance my mom had choreographed together. When they were doing it, I remember thinking, Mom's looking the happiest she's been in years. I realized then that dancing was one of her passions, and every time I see her dance, it reminds me of that moment."
"The second time was earlier this year. My mom's dad passed away, and we had to go to India for the rituals and the funeral. My older brother and I hadn't gone back in a little over eight years. We were driving somewhere in a rickshaw when my mom saw a vegetable that my brother and I had never eaten fresh before. She told the driver to stop, giddily got out, retrieved the vegetable, and said, 'You guys HAVE to experience this. It's amazing fresh.'"
—Anonymous
18."I realized my mom was 'just a girl' once I found out she got married at 18 and had me less than a year later. Yes, my parents love each other very much, but I also know that my mother's family was completely okay with marrying off their daughters when they were 17, 18, or 19, and completely expected them to get pregnant in their late teens or early 20s. Sometimes, I feel like maybe my mom was pressured into marrying my dad."
—Anonymous
19.Lastly: "Growing up, my mom was and still is my rock. Together with my dad, she took care of everything and called the shots, had solutions, and more — everything a powerful Latin woman is. As time passed, she became my grandma's primary caretaker and once again took control and delegated Grandma's care to her siblings. My grandma passed last year; she was 98! My mom and her siblings took care of the services and arrangements. Standard stuff. Before we knew it, the day came to bury my grandma. As the funeral home director was getting ready to close the casket and take my grandma to the church for her funeral mass, my mom just knelt in front of the casket and bawled her eyes out. I haven't seen her cry like that ever, and it made me sad for her."
"Here she was, the ball-busting, find-solutions-for-all, outspoken, strong-in-the-face-of-adversity woman, completely broken down. She was talking about how my grandma was always there for her, and how Grandma never judged her for her mistakes growing up. My uncles were consoling her while my mom just cried. It hit me there that my mom was missing her mom, and while my grandma was almost 100 and my mom was 65, she's just a girl who wanted her mom and will always miss her."
—Marcia, 34, New Jersey
BRB, I need some tissues. Was there ever a moment when you realized your mom was once just a girl? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously share your story using the form below!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Returning after a six-week break, the 'Real Time' host had a bit of catching up to do.
Following a six-week break, Bill Maher returned to Real Time with guns blazing as he tore into President Donald Trump's first six months in office. Dismissing frivolities like renaming the Gulf of Mexico and changing Coca-Cola's recipe, Maher said there are 'only so many f---s to give' when it comes to current events. Instead, he focused his ire on stories that matter in his current scorecard for Trump's administration during his 'New Rules' segment. 'Turning the Environmental Protection Agency into the Pollution Protection Agency, yes, that's going to matter,' Maher said. 'All the people who will lose healthcare and all the death that will be run up from the Big, Beautiful Bill, yes, that matters.'
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jeannie Seely, Country Hitmaker of the '60s and '70s and 58-Year Mainstay of the Grand Ole Opry, Dies at 85
Jeannie Seely, a country star of the '60s and '70s who had been a favorite of Grand Ole Opry audiences from her induction in 1967 up until the present day, died Friday at age 85. Seely last performed on the Opry on Feb. 22 of this year — her 5,397th Opry performances, which surpassed the number for any other performer in the history of the century-old live broadcast. Not just on the Opry, but generally speaking, Seely was considered to be the oldest regularly working female country singer. (Among all ongoing Opry stars, Bill Anderson still had a couple of years on her; he is 87.) More from Variety 'Opry 100: A Live Celebration': The Country Music Special's Best Moments 'The Masked Singer' Reveals Identity of Griffin: Here Is the Celebrity Under the Costume 'Opry 100' Producers Tell What to Expect From Country Music's Superstars in the Three-Hour NBC Telecast Beyond the Opry, Seely was a familiar name to younger generations of country fans as the host of a weekly SiriusXM program that had run on the Willie's Roadhouse channel since 2018. Her publicist reported Seely died at 5 p.m. CT at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, due complications from an intestinal infection. Although she continued to perform on the Opry through February of this year, she had recently suffered from multiple health issues, which this year included two emergency abdominal surgeries and multiple back surgeries. Dolly Parton was among the stars quickly weighing in with thoughts about Seely's passing. 'I have known Jeanie Seely since we were early on in Nashville,' Parton wrote in a message on Instagram. 'She was one of my dearest friends. I think she was one of the greater singers in Nashville and she had a wonderful sense of humor. We had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together and she will be missed.' Sunny Sweeney, one of the younger-generation country traditionalists who revered Seely, spoke about learning about the death while playing the Opry Friday night. 'Tonight I played the Opry for the 77th time for the release of my new album that came out today,' Sweeney wrote on Instagram. 'I was set up in Jeannie Seely's dressing room and had a 4:40 p.m. rehearsal. My rehearsal got moved to 5:40 at the last minute so I was sitting in her room, where I've spent so many nights with her and Gene [her late husband] over the years, when she passed on across town at 5:00 pm. I can't explain what that coincidence will mean to me for the rest of my life. I will miss you forever, my friend… and I promise to carry your torch with pride forever. I loved you hard and knowing you was one of the greatest honors of my life… I cried on stage and I know she was rolling her eyes at me, telling me to not mess up my eye makeup.' In 2021, Variety profiled Seely's history with the Opry, visiting her backstage at the Opry House just prior to the show's 5,000th broadcast. 'Jeannie Seely is living proof that, in country music circles, it's possible to get hipper as you get older,' the article began. She talked then about what it was like to hang with the late Little Jimmy Dickens in the dressing room we were meeting in. 'I'd had had some vocal issues because I have some esophagus issues, and I went to him and I said, 'What do you do?' He said, 'Lower the keys and tell more bullshit.'' She told Variety that Dickens influenced the tone of her act. 'In my early years, I remember there was like Eddie Arnold, who was always a serious singer, and then there'd be a comedian. But it was Jimmy Dickens that was the first one that made me realize that you can do both — be a serious singer and also be funny — and that's what I wanted to do.' Seely's first major hit was 1966's 'Don't Touch Me,' which reached No. 2 on the Billboard country chart. (It also became her lone Hot 100 entry, peaking there at No. 85. She reached the country top 10 twice more as a solo artist, with 'I'll Love You (More Than You Need)' (No. 10 in 1967) and 'Can I Sleep in Your Arms' (No. 6 in 1973), and once as the duet partner of Jack Greene, with 'Wish I Didn't Have to Miss You' (No. 2 in 1969). Her other top 20 hits included 'It's Only Love,' 'A Wanderin' Man,' 'Much Oblige,' 'What Has Gone Wrong With Our World' (the latter two with Greene) and 'Lucky Ladies.' Her run of charting singles lasted through 1977, though she continued to release new albums as recently as 2020's 'An American Classic,' which included collaborations with Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Waylon Payne and others. She won her sole Grammy for 'Don't Touch Me' in the Best Country & Western Recording category in 1967. Seeley earned two additional Grammy nods in subsequent years. A Pennsylvania native, Seely spent time in Los Angeles working at a bank and then as a secretary for Liberty/Imperial Records before moving to Nashville in 1965 with $50 in her pocket. Her first husband, legendary songwriter Hank Cochran, gave her a leg up when the rejections came fast and furious. 'I had met Hank Cochran in California, as I had Dottie West and Justin Tubb. They kind of opened some doors,' she said in an interview with Classic Bands. 'Hank took one of my demo tapes to several of the places. Then later, eventually, including Fred Foster at Monument, Hank was so frustrated by it. I remember he took me into Monument, into Fred's office about 5:30 one evening when everybody else was leaving the office. He handed me a guitar and said, 'Now sit there and sing until Fred signs you.' I always laughed later. I said I don't know whatever Fred finally heard something in that little session or whether he was just hungry and wanted to go to dinner and said, 'Okay, okay, whatever.' But thank goodness he did. He just said, 'Okay. I hear what you're hearing. Let's find some songs and we'll go ahead and record.'' Seely encountered no small amount of sexism along the way. There was even a level of patronizing embedded when she was complimented by no less a public figure than President Richard Nixon, who watcher her in his visit to the Opry in 1974 and said, 'Some girls have looks but can't sing. Others can sing but don't have looks. Jeannie Seely's got them both.' There was a glass ceiling at the Opry for many years of her tenure there. 'One of the things I have a lot of pride in is the fast that the doors are finally open for women to host. That was a door a lot of people don't realize in the newer generation, that those doors were not only slammed shut and locked, they were sealed against women; that was a door that I beat on constantly trying to get them to change that. I remember when Mr. Durham was the manager, I used to go to him all the time and I'd say, 'Okay, I know you've told me before why it is women can't host the Opry, but I forget,' and he'd say, 'It's tradition Jeannie,' and I said, 'Oh, that's right, it's tradition, it just smells like discrimination.' Things turned around, though, with a change of administration. 'I was very aware though that when Bob Whitaker came on as manager and he opened the doors and allowed me especially to do that, I knew that I had to do my homework, I knew I had to pay attention, I had to do it right or the door would be slammed again, not only on me but on a lot of them comin' behind me.' Seely told Variety in 2021 that she never told the Opry no when they invited her to perform. 'If the phone rings and I see it's Dan (Rogers), I never say 'Hello.' I just say, 'Yes.'' At the Opry, she said, there was little generation gap. 'I try to always impress this on young artists that didn't grow up on the Opry: It is not a normal concert venue. It's not a normal show. There's usually three generations represented on this stage, and you'll see three generations in the audience, you don't see that anywhere else. At sporting things, there might be in the crowd, but not on the field, you know? So I think that's one thing that makes the Opry so unique.' Saturday night's edition of the Grand Ole Opry will be dedicated to Seely. Seely's husband, Gene Ward, died in December. Her three siblings also preceded her in death. She did not have any children, but there was a big asterisk on that, as she explained in an interview with Country Stars Central. 'I didn't give birth to any children, but I had three stepsons when I was married with Hank Cochran and helped raise three stepsons there,' she said, 'and I helped raise two of Jack Greene's sons because I was the only one there. So, I have had a little experience, but the grandbabies are all a new experience for me. It's funny; I was talking to somebody the other day and she said, 'I found out what people meant when they said that if I'd had known grandchildren were so great, I would have just had them and skipped the children.' I said, 'Well, actually that's what I did.'' Among other testimonials, Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, said, 'While I've had the privilege of working with Jeannie Seely over the past 25 years, my immediate grief is deeply personal. Early in my tenure at CMA, I shared unforgettable lunches with Jeannie and Jo Walker Meador, full of stories that were occasionally irreverent but always fascinating. Jeannie was at the very first Fan Fair with Jack Greene and remained a beloved fixture for decades. She once told me a hilarious story about switching credentials with Dottie West just to keep people on their toes. When the CMA Board honored her with the Joe Talbot Award in 2023, it was for more than her music and fan relationships — it was for her spark. She mentored countless artists, especially women, and while they learned from her confidence and wit, she reminded us she was learning from them too. That humility was part of her magic.' Asked then what she hoped she would be remembered for, Seeley said, 'Well, I hope that people will remember me as being a good person, number one, and I hope that they will remember me with a smile. I hope that I have made people laugh, I hope that will be a good memory for everybody and I hope they will remember that, number one, I was still and still am a fan. I never stopped being a fan of country music and certainly never stopped being in awe of the Grand Ole Opry. I hope that they'll remember that I was just one of them; I just sang and wrote songs for a living.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Wordle hints today for #1,505: Clues and answer for Saturday, August 2
Hey, there! If you're looking for some help with today's Wordle, you've come to the right place. Here's our daily Wordle guide with some hints and the answer for Saturday's puzzle (#1,505). It may be that you're a Wordle newcomer and you're not completely sure how to play the game. We're here to help with that too. What is Wordle? Wordle is a deceptively simple daily word game that first emerged in 2021. There is one five-letter word to deduce every day by process of elimination. The daily word is the same for everyone. Wordle blew up in popularity in late 2021 after creator Josh Wardle made it easy for players to share an emoji-based grid with their friends and followers that detailed how they fared each day. The game's success spurred dozens of clones across a swathe of categories and formats. The New York Times purchased Wordle in early 2022 for an undisclosed sum. The publication said that players collectively played Wordle 5.3 billion times in 2024. So, it's little surprise that Wordle is one of the best online games and puzzles you can play daily. How to play Wordle To start playing Wordle, you simply need to enter one five-letter word. The game will tell you how close you are to that day's secret word by highlighting letters that are in the correct position in green. Letters that appear in the word but aren't in the right spot will be highlighted in yellow. If you guess any letters that are not in the secret word, the game will gray those out on the virtual keyboard. However, you can still use those letters in subsequent guesses. You'll only have six guesses to find each day's word, though you still can use grayed-out letters to help narrow things down. It's also worth remembering that letters can appear in the secret word more than once. Wordle is free to play on the NYT's website and apps, as well as on Meta Quest headsets and Discord. The game refreshes at midnight local time. If you log into a New York Times account, you can track your stats, including the all-important win streak. How to play Wordle more than once a day If you have a NYT subscription that includes full access to the publication's games, you don't have to stop after a single round of Wordle. You'll have access to an archive of more than 1,500 previous Wordle games. So if you're a relative newcomer, you'll be able to go back and catch up on previous editions. In addition, paid NYT Games members have access to a tool called the Wordle Bot. This can tell you how well you performed at each day's game. Previous Wordle answers Before today's Wordle hints, here are the answers to recent puzzles that you may have missed: Yesterday's Wordle answer for Friday, August 1 — BANJO Thursday, July 31 — FRILL Wednesday, July 30 — ASSAY Tuesday, July 29 — OMEGA Monday, July 28 — SAVVY Today's Wordle hints explained Every day, we'll try to make Wordle a little easier for you. First, we'll offer a hint that describes the meaning of the word or how it might be used in a phrase or sentence. We'll also tell you if there are any double (or even triple) letters in the word. In case you still haven't quite figured it out by that point, we'll then provide the first letter of the word. Those who are still stumped after that can continue on to find out the answer for today's Wordle. This should go without saying, but make sure to scroll slowly. Spoilers are ahead. Today's Wordle help Here is a hint for today's Wordle answer: Cause someone else to feel nervous, apprehensive or intimidated. Are there any double letters in today's Wordle? There are no repeated letters in today's Wordle answer. What's the first letter of today's Wordle? The first letter of today's Wordle answer is D. The Wordle answer today This is your final warning before we reveal today's Wordle answer. No take-backs. Don't blame us if you happen to scroll too far and accidentally spoil the game for yourself. What is today's Wordle? Today's Wordle answer is... DAUNT Not to worry if you didn't figure out today's Wordle word. If you made it this far down the page, hopefully you at least kept your streak going. And, hey: there's always another game tomorrow.
