guardian.co.uk on tumblr

  1. Quote

    | 34 notes
    Right at the beginning of this, I said to my children, “The right thing isn’t always the easy thing.” And I believe that. I have tears running down my cheeks as I write this, but it has brought my brother and his wife and I closer together. I did this for them and it has cost me in tears, but we are now bonded in a way that is fundamental and feels unbreakable.

    Secret diary of a surrogate mother

    Your brother and his wife are desperate to have a child. You offer to help – but will you really be able to give up the twins you’ve carried for nine months? A surrogate mother tells her story…

  2. Quote

    | 26 notes

    I am far from perfect but would love it if we could discuss our relationship openly so that I could work to improve matters if possible. Sometimes I think I should give up but then I fear we would lose touch. Our sons have such a strong friendship that I shall keep on trying for their sakes, as well as mine.

    When I tell people that I have an identical twin sister, they all say how lucky I am and how we must be so close. My heart then breaks a little as our relationship truly challenges that stereotype.

    A letter to my twin sister

  3. Photo

    | 18 notes
    Tim Dowling: Today’s the day the universities offer places. So where the hell’s that postman? At the beginning of the new year, my wife has recommenced her haunting of various online student forums, trying to gain insight into university places on behalf of the eldest one. It is not a form of torture in which the boy has shown much interest. I find my wife in her office, scrolling through one thread after another.

    Tim Dowling: Today’s the day the universities offer places. So where the hell’s that postman?

    At the beginning of the new year, my wife has recommenced her haunting of various online student forums, trying to gain insight into university places on behalf of the eldest one. It is not a form of torture in which the boy has shown much interest. I find my wife in her office, scrolling through one thread after another.

  4. Photo

    | 248 notes
    Snapshot: My amazing sister, Grace The first question friends ask when they learn that I have a younger sister with Down’s syndrome is, “At what age did you know that your sister was different?” The answer is, I don’t know. I don’t remember our parents ever making a point of telling us. They never needed to. As far as we were – and are – concerned, she is just Grace. Amazing Grace, in fact. Her childhood was peppered with all sorts of speech therapy, Ear, Nose and Throat hospital appointments and a recurrent defiance in the face of lettuce. Luckily, she has never had any major health problems. To this day she continues to surpass all our expectations and shatter predictions. I took this photograph at a Christmas fair in Manchester. I had taken Grace shopping when she saw the swings out of the corner of her eye, and her face lit up. We paid our £2.50 each and strapped ourselves into two rickety swings next to each other. Capturing her clinging to the swing as she flew through the sky, the picture freezes in time a moment of apparent invincibility juxtaposed with childhood innocence. It humbles me, just as she does, and serves as a reminder that sometimes it pays to stop and smile at a simple pleasure in life – and always to count your blessings. Verity Stockdale

    Snapshot: My amazing sister, Grace

    The first question friends ask when they learn that I have a younger sister with Down’s syndrome is, “At what age did you know that your sister was different?” The answer is, I don’t know. I don’t remember our parents ever making a point of telling us. They never needed to. As far as we were – and are – concerned, she is just Grace. Amazing Grace, in fact.

    Her childhood was peppered with all sorts of speech therapy, Ear, Nose and Throat hospital appointments and a recurrent defiance in the face of lettuce. Luckily, she has never had any major health problems. To this day she continues to surpass all our expectations and shatter predictions.

    I took this photograph at a Christmas fair in Manchester. I had taken Grace shopping when she saw the swings out of the corner of her eye, and her face lit up. We paid our £2.50 each and strapped ourselves into two rickety swings next to each other. Capturing her clinging to the swing as she flew through the sky, the picture freezes in time a moment of apparent invincibility juxtaposed with childhood innocence. It humbles me, just as she does, and serves as a reminder that sometimes it pays to stop and smile at a simple pleasure in life – and always to count your blessings. Verity Stockdale

  6. Quote

    | 74 notes

    “You have to plan for it, schedule it – consciously make a time and a place for it to happen: “We thought having to pay all that attention to it would somehow distract from it, make it mundane. But it didn’t. The other thing that year made me realise was that men don’t need it more than women. Men might want it for different reasons. But I learned that I wanted it too.

    The fact is, Charla says: “Everything just gets better when sex is a vital part of your relationship. He’s happier, you’re happier, the whole house is happier. A daily kindness enters your relationship, a level of attentiveness for each other. It’s almost like you’re dating again … That’s a real discovery.”

    Jon Henley catches up with two couples who tried regimes of consecutive sex, for 101 and 365 days respectively. Five years on, are they still, um, at it?

    (Source: gu.com)

  8. Photo

    | 83 notes
    Irina Popova’s controversial family album When Irina Popova’s photos of drug-addicted Russian parents and their baby daughter were shown in exhibition, they were nominated for an award. When the images were published on the web, they unleashed a storm of vitriol. Here Anfisa plays with cigarettes while her mother sleeps. Photograph: Irina Popova

    Irina Popova’s controversial family album

    When Irina Popova’s photos of drug-addicted Russian parents and their baby daughter were shown in exhibition, they were nominated for an award. When the images were published on the web, they unleashed a storm of vitriol. Here Anfisa plays with cigarettes while her mother sleeps. Photograph: Irina Popova

About

A selection of stories, photos, quotes, video and audio from guardian.co.uk, curated by James Walsh, Hannah Waldram, Carmen Fishwick and the Guardian's editorial team. We are also editors of the news tag.

People we follow

Stuff we like

Follow Guardian comment on Twitter

    Follow @CommentisFree on Twitter