reinvention
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 […]
Read More
Different Than I Expected
On the Other Side of the Infertility Chasm
Hellllloooooo! Yes. Still here happily on the other side of the infertility chasm. Won’t bore you with details, but the past several weeks have been busier than usual. A bit like drinking from a fire hydrant. Absorbing a great deal in all spheres of life. While I may be very behind on social media and […]
Read More
Movies
Remembrance
Identity after Infertility and Failed IVF
Identity — and the loss of it — loomed large 10 years ago as I sat staring at my computer. I didn’t know who I was any more. Scared. Untethered. Unsure of what awaited me. I stared at a blinking cursor. Heart broken. Filled with longing for what might have been. I nursed an overwhelming […]
Read More
Book Musings
Two Wiser Women On Society and Motherhood
Welcome to all on the virtual book tour for Life Without Baby: Surviving and Thriving When Motherhood Doesn’t Happen. (Don’t have your copy yet? You can get one here. Don’t worry, we’ll wait…) ~~ Right. Let’s get to it, shall we? Author Lisa Manterfield has done a tremendous service for those grappling with this question: “What if I never get to […]
Read More
Guest Post
Male Call: The Head Cannot Heal the Heart
Editor’s Note: When it comes to matters of the heart, there’s nothing quite so comforting and validating as discovering you’re not alone in teasing out complicated emotions. Whether in the blogosphere or in society as a whole male voices are in the minority on the topic of disenfranchised grief. It’s rare to hear men give […]
Read More
Linking Around
The Change: For Reals
While my recent blog posts have been outward facing — examining the increasingly surreal fertility-obsessed world and the entrepreneurial fertility industry eager to cash in around it — this post, girlfriends, is kicking it old school. Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite libation ’cause we’re going inside the girl tent. The numbers don’t […]
Read More
Tapestry of Voices
Dear Abby Strikes Out On Infertility, Childless Not By Choice Question
Dear Abby (aka Jeanne Phillips), Pamela Jeanne here. Nice to meet you. So let me get right to the point. That 2nd letter you posted today, the one about the woman feeling a void in her life following an infertility diagnosis? Yeah, I’m afraid you struck out. You see the question posed by BROKEN RECORD […]
Read More
Relationships
First We Get Really Uncomfortable…
Life would be a whole lot more comfortable and easier to navigate if it unfolded neatly or predictably. Alas, that’s not the case for most of us. Mix in a contentious, complex topic (e.g. the inability to reproduce) and watch the discomfort rise. It’s understandable. Beyond the biological unpleasantness, there is upheaval to our sense […]
Read More
What I Wish I'd Know Then
Hello Strangers: I’m an Infertility Survivor and I’m Not Ashamed to Say It
Here is Part III of the ‘Bitter Infertiles’ conversation — on the anniversary of the day the podcast took place. This where we own up to our experiences as ‘Infertility Survivors.’ Mo: One of the things I want to ask you ladies … people always focus on the negative of, as Pamela said, it’s not […]
Read More
Tapestry of Voices
Keeping it 100: Identity Crisis and Emotional Cratering in a Mommy Mad World
In Part II of the ‘Bitter Infertiles’ podcast transcript (Part I here or listen to the podcast here), we talk infertility trauma, the assault to identity and misplaced mommy glorification… Mo: One of the big issues we discussed last month with a therapist was the devastating effect that infertility can have on the emotional well-being. […]
Read More