Jody Day
Book Musings
Psychology
Living the Life Unexpected Takes on New Meaning
Living the life unexpected has become all too startlingly familiar, hasn’t it? Who among us has not felt jolted by the sudden onset of this out-of-nowhere, insidious coronavirus threat to what had been our mostly well-ordered lives and sense of agency? But, from my personally Cloroxed plane seat amid the current pandemic yesterday a spectacular […]
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Remembrance
Brief Sabbatical: A Look Back and Ahead
A sabbatical usually starts with a plan. Not in my case. This latest one, unannounced and unanticipated, found me. My time away from the blog started with an innocent commitment to spend 2020 more offline than online. The year started well enough. However, three weeks into January, the flu followed by a nasty case of […]
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Linking Around
Childless Explorations Around the World
World Childless Week is the brainchild of Stephanie Phillips. She first conceived the idea in 2017. With the help of numerous childless bloggers and members of several online childless support groups, WCW has grown and blossomed. The World Childless Week website contains a wealth of stories and insights. Learn more about the mission here. Wrestling […]
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Changing Perceptions
Strength Personified
Infertility and Childlessness in Focus
Many of my favorite women will gather in London to discuss infertility and childlessness later this month. Ten years ago we were little more than a silent sorority online. Today women (and men) are now stepping forward boldly to tell their stories. April 27: Community and Connection There’s a whole day of arts programming around […]
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Book Musings
Linking Around
Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness
Childlessness and joy are rarely used in the same sentence. Lesley Pyne, however, has devoted the past few years digging into the reality of childlessness. Her quest? To understand how to process the losses, carve out a new path and rediscover joy. It’s all in her new book, Finding Joy Beyond Childlessness: Inspiring Stories to […]
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News Reports and Studies
New Studies Call Out IVF Clinic Tone Deafness, Profiteering
A recent IVF study led by Yale sociology associate professor Rene Almeling stopped me in my tracks, but for reasons surely different than the research team. The IVF study goal was to “assess whether different motivations for undergoing the same medical intervention affects bodily experiences.” Published in the September Journal of Social Science and Medicine, […]
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Relationships
Strength Personified
The Exhilaration of Acceptance
It doesn’t matter what age, what ethnicity, what country we hail from — we all desire respect, acknowledgment and acceptance. This very human need manifests itself on playgrounds, in communities and in our day-to-day encounters. It doesn’t need to be a grand gesture. In fact, it’s the gentle gesture that often leaves the largest impact. […]
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Book Musings
Our Modern Day Betty Friedan Moment
Is this all? Those three little words — Betty Friedan’s simple question — went on to define an era. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, arrived on February 19, 1963. Per The New York Times Back Story: When she wrote the book, Ms. Friedan was a suburban housewife and mother who penned freelance articles for women’s magazines. She had become disillusioned […]
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What I Wish I'd Know Then
Grief Is a Form of Love
It’s been a few years since I first began to pick up the pieces broken and splintered off in the tempest of infertility and failed IVF. Because there were no instructions for reassembly, no “how to cope with infertility” imparted by elders or learned through societal observation, I’ve had my fair share of trial and […]
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Different Than I Expected
Australian View: Why Waste a Good Flood?
Why waste a good flood? This sentiment, delivered with a laugh, from a grizzled ex-Brit has now become part of my philosophy. The wise words came from the cab driver conveying us to the Brisbane airport. It was the last day of a two-week, five city journey. Our knowledge of Brisbane had been limited. We […]
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