“My heart goes out to all those who wanted children and didn’t achieve the dream of being the parents they so longed to be – whether they had IVF or not.” IVF is no ‘rite of passage’ Some readers of this blog will have had fertility treatment and there will be many of you who … More A Few Thoughts on IVF as it Turns 40
Sacred Objects For seventeen years I’d kept three small stones in a long-emptied chocolate box on a shelf in a cupboard. They weren’t particularly beautiful stones – to anyone else they would have been just standard Sussex beach issue but for me they held all the ‘magic’ of sacred objects. I didn’t look at them … More The Ceremony With No Name
From my heart… This is not the post I had planned to write. I’m afraid ‘the stuff of life’ got in the way last week and I wasn’t able to deliver on my plans. To mark Father’s Day, I had wanted to write (in greater depth than I have here) about how the male … More Father’s Day – The voices of childless men
“To emerge from grief, to find a way to live with the loss is a continual creative act – an on-going project to build our resilience muscle.” As I sit here writing in a café I am looking at a family sitting around a table, a pram next to them. The grandfather and two waitresses … More Creating Your Own Brand of Resilience: emerging from the grief of childlessness
On a positive note… …my anger and resentment about Mother’s Day has declined over the years. Now I’m able to recognise it as a day to acknowledge and be grateful for the people who give me nurture and support and to celebrate my own capacity for ‘mothering’. As an aunt, friend, wife, sister, daughter and … More Making Today a Day for ‘Return’
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” William Shakespeare, The Tempest Fate. Karma. Kismet. Life. Whatever word you choose, here’s a thought experiment: If we could see the bigger moments of our future laid out ahead of us do you think we … More Happenstance, Randomness: Making Sense Of It All
Make More of Mothering Sunday Message Cards – (Proceeds to Fertility Network UK) Mothering Sunday can be challenging for those of us who are childless through circumstance. It can be tempting to hide away or get angry. The other option is to re-claim the spirit of the day. These A6 message cards (below) are designed … More New Type Of Card for Mothering Sunday
(Response to Sarah Champion’s comments about Theresa May) There is a famous joke in psychotherapy: “A Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother.” We often betray the truth of our feelings in a throwaway comment – something counsellors and psychotherapists are always on the look out for! So I just … More Throwaway Comments that Brand Us
…for your heart. Even if your heart feels out of kilter (like these slightly wonky heart cut outs!), I hope that today brings – and all days bring – their own small moments of joy. I’m sending a virtual hug to your heart today. Thank you to all my blog readers and … More A Heart…
Dear friends – a belated happy new year to you all. There has been radio silence here for a few of weeks as I have been on holiday and have given myself a break from All Things Social Media. It has been good to give my brain a bit of space but it is really … More Of Love, Hope and Abandonment: IVF Turns Forty
