Shelda is the authentic, brave and generous sister friend that every woman deserves. Our relationship started out online a decade ago and we’ve both bounced around the country numerous times since then- what’s fitting in visits whenever we could make our paths cross.  She’s the friend who doesn’t  judge and truly listens and thus knows every detail of my life. She’s been on the giving end for most of our friendship- remembering my birthday when I forget hers, writing beautiful and thoughtful notes of appreciation that I usually fail in corresponding too and once driving me 500 miles as a favor. Most recently, she GAVE ME HER CAR after her little family outgrew it. It’s now my turn to help Shelda in a big way. 

I’m sharing her story with permission so here goes.

For the last few years Shelda has been in a sometimes physically abusive relationship with her partner and the father of her twin daughters. While her partner was going to graduate school and working, she carried every responsibility of running a home and carrying for infant (now toddler) twins completely on her own. Shelda and her partner had been working hard with therapist to strengthen their relationship and things were going well for awhile.Shelda became pregnant with their 3rd child. They were a month from moving across country to further again for school/work and Shelda- at 30 weeks pregnant- received the heart-breaking news that her partner was cheating on her with another woman who he got pregnant and that he was moving without his family. GULP. No one should have to go through this, let alone while in the vulnerable state of being very pregnant and while being the sole caregivers to two 2 year olds. 

Here’s how I’d like to help Shelda. Being abandoned by her partner has left her without a means of supporting herself and her family for now. Shelda still needs to pay for a birth worker to attend her birth and I’d like to pitch in extra on top of that to hire her a postpartum doula to help with laundry, meals, and toddler wrangling since she won’t have the support of a spouse.