We have highs and we have lows
The power is in our hands
We can dance or
We can cry
It’s up to us
To make the right decision.
Yes it’s hard
Like pushing a wall
That doesn’t seem to move
But once you look back
You’ll see you’ve come so far.
So don’t lose hope
When things are bad
Just hang in there
You are bound to reach
The top of the hill soon.
◊
Thank you, Victoria, for these encouraging words.
Let us never lose hope.
Wishing you all a restful weekend.
🌷
By Pam Kimmell | Featured Blogger
The road that we each travel
Is full of twists and turns
There are detours and temptations
Lessons each of us must learn.
If life was always perfect
And we never faced the bad
We’d have no real reflection
Of the happy times we’ve had.
Adversity brings the challenge
Of working towards new goals
Finding new solutions
Is balm for weary souls.
God never gives us more to handle
Than he knows we can take on
Remember following the darkest times
God provides a bright new dawn.
◊
By Forrest Rivers | Featured Author
The year was 2020.
The world was plagued by a pandemic
that inflicted mass casualties
across the land.
But set against this backdrop
of death, fear and deprivation,
A movement of higher consciousness
was well underway.
Driven into isolation
to control the deadly virus,
Citizens of the world
came to have gratitude
for all the little things
they had taken for granted:
Smiles from passing strangers,
Sentimental hugs,
Uplifting time spent with
dear friends and family
And the sweet joys of
live song and dance
Were all things sorely
missed and remembered
Nostalgically….
By Barbara Leonhard | Featured Contributor
Depression developed and flourished because I grieved so much over loss of fertility.
Women who are childless miss out on a great deal. They never feel what it is like to have a life growing, kicking and wiggling inside of them; to cry out during the birth of a baby (a rite of passage to celebrate with girlfriends); to watch over and even to grow with a child through sickness and health, all the milestones of birthdays, graduations, marriage, and the births of grandchildren. I have even grieved not being able to be the tooth fairy, help my kids find Easter eggs, read them bedtime stories, take them to the zoo.
Feeling apart from and not a part of the tribe still saddens me. I find I am left out of conversations about all those life passages women around me have. I feel I have little to contribute. I have attended and hosted many baby showers, but my mind always wanders to my losses, making it difficult to be fully present to the joy young mothers feel. Women form strong bonds with each other and share in all the rituals around birthing and raising children. I feel like an outsider at times, like I am more an observer than a participant in these sacred passages.
Continue reading “Broken Womb, Shattered Soul: Living with Infertility (part 2)”
By Colin Chappell | Featured Author
He listened;
He understood;
He befriended;
He cared.
All the courage he gave me,
By just being there,
Made me feel like
I wanted to live.
He gave me so much
Yet… had so little to give…
But his time.
I realized later
There was so much more.
I was indebted to that man
And… what’s more,
To experience the caring
of someone unknown
made me wonder.
Who else was out there alone?
When all are in trial,
When all are in denial,
Let me be the one
to share a smile.
Let me be the one
to share a dance.
Let it be an advance,
to be enhanced,
when all are weary,
let me be the one
to share thinking clearly,
to share being ever so cheery.
This is what I ask.
Because I don’t want us to wear a mask.
So let us join hand-in-hand, for this to be our task.
◊
Lovely words by Autumn reminding us to always encourage and uplift each other.
May we be those willing to share a smile…even from a distance.
Wishing you all a beautiful weekend.
💙
By Barbara Leonhard | Featured Contributor
As we grow and develop, we learn how to identify with many labels or roles, such as daughter/son, aunt/uncle, mother/father, and grandmother/grandfather, to name a few. It seems as though our stories are written before we are born to conform to these labels. In a way, these roles become rituals that comfort us as we agree to them and even expect our lives to go “as planned” based on our social codes and blueprints for survival.
I know I certainly expected my life to unfold much like my mother’s life did with marriage and family. She had seven children, and being the second oldest and oldest girl, I was able to help with all the babies she had. It never occurred to me that I would never be able to have my own children. Little did I know that my helping her at the ages of 9 and 10 with my youngest siblings would be my only times to experience at least part of what a mother does for her kids. I am not sure I appreciated this time because as much as I loved playing mommy, I also wanted to be with my friends.
Continue reading “Broken Womb, Shattered Soul: Living with Infertility (part 1)”
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