While I’d love to say to my friend, “Yes! there is light at the end of the tunnel if you adopt,” I believe that we need to exhaust hope until, well, until it exhausts us.
by Sarah Kelly
I recently had lunch with a friend who’s about to embark on her first in vitro fertilization. She needed to vent; I was happy to share. Like two soldiers, we traded war stories, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. We compared notes on the clueless things people say when they are frustrated because you haven’t had a baby yet.
Like that time, a few years ago, when I was having a grand time at a party, trying to forget—or drown—my worries. An old friend approached me, wanting to know why I didn’t have kids yet. She informed me that I had better start trying soon, so that I wouldn’t end up having to inject myself with rounds of fertility drugs. How horrible it would be if my life came to that! (It had already come to that, but thanks for the warning…)