Childless Not by Choice Voices Heard
Childless Not by Choice (CNBC) folk don’t often get much visibility. That’s why I was surprised when an email query landed in my inbox several weeks ago. It came at the same time my husband was in pre-op for outpatient surgery. Suffice to say, I knew how I’d be spending my time in the waiting […]
IVF Survivorship: A New Field of Study
IVF survivorship as a concept didn’t exist when I first considered the medical procedure. That was in the late 1990s. All I knew came from the well-oiled IVF industry hype machine. The growing and enormously profitable business portrayed IVF as the science world’s answer to modern family formation. IVF clinics intentionally portrayed this hugely invasive […]
Warmth and Wonder, Anyone?
Warmth, wonder, and pearls of wisdom drop into our lives when we least expect them, don’t they? Late this afternoon, for instance, amid a spectacular late autumn sunset. Warm sunlight bathed my face and waves softly lapped at my feet. This natural beauty overwhelmed so thoroughly that, well, I burst into tears. There was nothing […]
Egocentrism Begins At Home, Not a Good Trend
Egocentrism sure is easy to spot these days. This observation came to me this weekend. It started with a New York Times essay on co-housing initially titled: Is This the Cure for the Loneliness of American Motherhood? As an aside, my fellow blogger and dear friend Sarah discovered the print edition of the paper retooled […]
Lived IVF Reality Gets New Look
My inbox has overflowed recently with new requests for writing and guidance as well as comments about the painful lived reality of IVF and egg freezing. The academic and bioethics world is also paying more attention to IVF survivorship. Here are some of the latest deep dives into the lived IVF reality. IVF Marketing Scrutiny […]
Sadness Moves Us Toward What is To Be Gained
I sat as calmly as I could recently while Esther, an acupuncturist, held my wrists palms up and felt my pulse. My lungs, I shared, had been tested by unrelenting, cumulative wildfire smoke. This precipitated an extended asthma attack and related tightness. “How do you feel?” Esther asked. “Hmmm, asthmatic and a bit stressed,” I […]
Life Under Unusual Circumstances
Life taxes us in ways large and small. This maxim is the one constant beyond the sun that greets us each morning. Value Each Breath Those well-acquainted with me know asthma remains my wily and unpredictable companion. Dog and cat dander floating in the air, pollen storms and smoke are just some of the pernicious […]
‘The Mother of All Dilemmas’ Explores Cultural Conditioning and ‘Choices’
Dilemmas, by their very definition, don’t offer easy or tidy resolutions. Now, toss in some deeply ingrained stereotypes, social and economic pressures, and reproductive siren songs and reckonings. Top it off with a healthy amount of identity sorting. What have you got? A hardy dilemma salad of sorts with some intense and, at times, biting […]
I’ve Looked At Clouds from Both Sides Now
Clouds carry the power of emotions like few things in nature. They all but cry out for attention and hold our gaze with their expressiveness and shifting forms and colors. How can we not look at these dynamic skyscapes? Now, I’ve never been a deeply spiritual person in the classic religious sense, but I’ve always stood […]
A Sad Daughter Confronts the End of the Long Goodbye
A daughter knows when her parents need her. Each Sunday during this endless pandemic, my 80-something parents waited for our weekly call or Facetime visit. It didn’t take long for me to see my father’s long, slow dance with dementia was taking a significant toll. An abrupt and distressing phone call was not the way […]