A new ink painting! We’ve started our second cycle of trying to get pregnant today. The mood is optimistic about our house. We’ve been cautioned and chastised a few times since we started on this path about how openly we’ve chosen to share our experiences. Each to their own of course!

I was talking with Rose about this again recently and asked her if it was harder or easier to experience loss or disappointment in secret? She said, for her, it was harder. Secrecy bred shame, layered confusion into relationships where people didn’t know why she was reacting the way she was, it left her alone in grief. Personally, that’s certainly been my experience also. When it’s chosen as a preference, it’s privacy. When it’s imposed by others, by culture, by friends or family who don’t want to talk about it, then it’s something else much more lonely and painful. As with so much of life, it’s about having the freedom to choose. I’m glad to not be alone in this.