Today, my mom has survived her cancer a couple weeks longer than her doctors had expected, and I gave birth to my first child a couple weeks earlier than my expected delivery date. MMT

Today, she has been in heaven for exactly 10 years, but I still find her long blonde hairs in the crevices of our house when I cleanup on Sunday mornings. MMT

Today, my great grandparent's renewed their wedding vows on their 75th wedding anniversary. Love that lasts three generations MMT.

Today, my 8-year-old brother came into the living room crying as my parents and I screamed at each other again, and said, "I wish you all loved each other as much as I love you." MMT

Today, after doubting my acting abilities and listening to the negativity of others who kept telling me it wasn’t worth my time for nearly 15 years now, I called in sick to my job as a cook at a public high school and drove an hour south to L.A. to audition for a recurring part in a sitcom. The director called me this evening on my drive home and said he really liked my work and wants me to read more lines in his studio tomorrow afternoon. MMT

Today, my husband has lung cancer, but I am the only one who used to smoke cigarettes. I quit 10 years ago, but not soon enough. MMT

Today, my old boss at the depression hotline where I worked for four years when I was in college eight years ago, still forwards me a thank you email at least once every few months from a person I helped while I worked there. MMT

Today, as I sit here in the homeless shelter, slowly pulling my life together (I start a job working at a grocery store tomorrow), my greatest fear is that my unborn child will be raised in an unfit environment. But two weeks ago when I stared down at the adoption paperwork, I couldn’t let go and bring myself to sign it. MMT

Today, a random female student in a wheel chair offered to carry my backpack on the back of her wheelchair for me after she saw me limping out of my class with my casted, fractured ankle. She helped me all the way across campus to my car and refused any kind of compensation. MMT

Today, when 500+ friends and classmates showed up at my younger cousin’s funeral, I wondered where they were last week when he wrote that letter that said, “I have nothing and no one left to live for.” MMT

Today, as I sat there staring at the loaded handgun in my hand, my 8-year-old son called me three times in a row from his father’s house. I picked up the phone on his third call and he said, “Mommy, I’m super excited to see you tomorrow!” MMT

Today, on my first day working as an ER nurse, a female burn victim cried to me under her bandages and begged me to help her end her misery. MMT

Today, exactly a year after she died, I worked with a Facebook support tech to obtain the password to my late wife’s account. I did this because friends and family who were not ‘friends’ with her on Facebook have repeatedly mentioned that they wish they could contribute memorial notes to her Facebook Timeline. When I logged in to her account this afternoon, I found out that our 18-year-old son has sent her a private message every single day since she passed. MMT

Today, I work for a charity in greater San Diego near the border. I was finalizing the books for last year’s taxes when I realized that the largest sum of cash donations we received came from two men who have been in the local news recently as being suspected leaders in a drug trafficking operation. MMT

Today, nearly 15 years after he passed away in a car accident on our three-year anniversary of dating (which also happened to be our high school prom night), his mom, who I have remained in touch with, showed up at my door with an engagement ring she found under a floorboard in her son’s old bedroom. Along with the ring were several hand-written notes detailing his plan to ask for my hand in marriage. MMT

Today, a homeless woman who I have seen at a few of our community outreach efforts in the last few months came into our donation office and donated a fairly well-kept pair of winter boots. She said, “I already have two other pairs, so I figured someone else probably needs these more than I do right now.” MMT

Today, one of my business heroes replied to an email I spent her inquiring about how she had handled all of her failures to get to where she is today. Part of her response: “I’ve fallen down hard a hundred times, at least. I’ve seen many people close to me fall flat on their faces too. Sometimes you wake right up. Sometimes it totally knocks you out. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.” MMT

Today, when I told him that he deserved better – that I have too much baggage – that I can barely stand alone on my own two feet, he hugged me and said, “It's not the load that breaks us down, it's the way we carry it. And I don’t mind helping you carry it.” MMT

Today, my dad received the surgery he needed to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. His health condition has kept him out of work for almost a year now. My family has been struggling to make ends meet for several months, and we were finally forced to sell our townhouse last week. We close in 12 days and had nowhere to go. My sister and I have been openly discussing my dad’s medical situation and our dilemma on Twitter and Facebook. This evening, a friend of a friend, who is a wealthy real estate investor, saw our comments and volunteered to let us stay in one of his properties rent free for the next twelve months. MMT

Today, a nurse named Kay gave up a planned anniversary date she had with her husband and worked three straight shifts without a break to help my son who is in the emergency room. She was the only person watching him at midnight, at which time she made emergency calls and got the doctors to order the emergency surgery that saved my son’s life. MMT