Maybe you've seen this before, maybe not

On infertility:
Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait--and wait--and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."

"By BOAT!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. (Isn't that the truth!) You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

(and now, how I hope our story continues)

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather then by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy."

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

Adapted, orginially by Diane Armitage printed in the April 21, 1995 "Dear Abby" column.

Inspiring

While searching for words to support an IF friend yesterday, I remembered an inspiring song from my days as a camp counselor. I searched for an online version so I could share it with her. After re-listening to the lyrics, I was struck with how perfectly this song expresses how I feel about the women I have met through the Internet infertility world.

You all inspire me to do the things I think I cannot do- whether that is injections, IVF, or picking up the pieces after I hit a low point in the roller coaster. Since I'm guessing no one gave you a card or a gift to honor you for NIAW- I'm taking it upon myself to honor you. This song is for you. Thank you for helping me work through the most difficult time of my life.

Heroes by Ann Reed

What can I learn from you
In your lifetime, in what you've been through
How'd you keep your head up and hold your pride
In an insane world how'd you keep on tryin'
One life can tell the tale
That if you make the effort, you can not fail
By your life you tell me it can be done
By your life's the courage to carry on

(Chorus):
Heroes
Appear like a friend
To clear a path or light the flame
As time goes by you find you depend
On your heroes to show you the way

What can I learn from you
That I must do the thing I think I can not do
That you do what's right by your heart and soul
It's the imperfections that make us whole
One life can tell the tale
And if you make the effort you can not fail
By your life you tell me it can be done
By your life's the courage to carry on

(chorus)

Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt
Katherine Hepburn, Sally Ride
Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman
Annie Sullivan, Gertrude Stein

Coretta Scott King, Amelia Earhart
Lillian Hellman, Eartha Kitt
Sacajewea, Ella Fitzgerald
Golda Meir, Dorothy Dix

Louisa May Alcott, Billie Jean King
Emily Dickinson, Lucy Stone
Margaret Sanger, Clara Barton
Billie Holiday, Juliette Low

Elizabeth Blackwell, Rosa Parks
Lena Horne, Beverly Sills
Barbara Jordan, Helen Keller
Indira Gandhi, Agnes DeMille

Corazon Aquino, Gloria Steinem
Rachel Carson, Joan of Arc
Babe Zaharias, Marlene Deitrich
Anne Frank, Simone de Beauvoir...

As one of my heroes, you are among great company, too!