Thank You

As I sit here tonight trying to figure out what to write, I keep thinking of all of you and the journeys you are all on and where you have been.....

I have to give a shout-out to my fellow bloggers who are getting ready to start their IVF and IUI cycles (or are currently IN them). Good luck Ladies! I love reading your blogs and keeping up with everything.

I pray for ALL of you nightly - no matter what you are going through. It is so blatantly clear how much love we all have in our hearts - and yet we were dealt a horrible, horrible, hand. Life can really suck sometimes - and it definitely doesn't seem fair. Today I almost posted the headlines from a few news sources.... headlines about clearly unfit people being parents. I wanted to talk about all these people who do not appreciate the gift(s) they have been given. As I was collecting the articles, I realized I did not need to point out the obvious to the readers of this blog. We all know that infertility is a crazy ass bitch. Instead I took a moment and thought about how strong all of you are.....

You, (well, actually "we") have all endured so much more than we ever thought we could. We've each been pushed to our breaking point - yet here we are - holding each other up. Many of us have created strong bonds of friendship without ever meeting each other. I know I have personally cried over your losses, laughed at your crazy mishaps, bitched at the stupid people who make your lives even more difficult than they already are, and I have smiled with pure joy at your accomplishments - no matter how large or small. My heart swells with excitement when an adoption is finalized, two lines show up, a beta increases, or you just decide to take the next step in this horrific journey.

We are a truly unique group of people. Broken in some respects - but stronger than those more fortunate. You read that correctly - MORE fortunate. Stronger in that we have not thrown in the towel. Our bodies are broken - but not our spirits. We've been dealt a shitty hand. So what do we do? We slam the cards down and demand a new deal. Maybe our new deal is trying DE, IVF, IUI, surrogate, adoption. It doesn't matter. We want the final outcome of our cards to build a house with a child in it. We keep playing and changing our strategy. We're motivated. We're educated. We're determined.

We are definitely a unique group. A group that I never ever wanted to be a part of. I joined this group involuntarily. I joined kicking and screaming. Now that I'm here - I cannot imagine being anywhere else. Without joining this group, I would not have become a Mom to Ukulele. I would not have *met* so many of you who feel like sisters and true friends. I would not have wholly appreciated and understood how truly precious life is. I feel that I am a better person since I have become part of this exclusive and elite group of women. So thank you - all of you . You inspire me.

Okay - back to my regular snarky self next post. Mushy-ness over.