You know, I never wanted to be the one to "out" myself regarding my pre-existing relationship with Cecily and her husband Charlie because, well,
a) it felt like it would be a cheap attempt to get a lot of traffic that I didn't deserve, and
b) it didn't seem like my place.
But I've admired Cecily since I tripped over her blog in the spring of 2006, a few months before Tori was born. I'd never really been a blog reader before, but I devoured her blog quickly. It was interesting to me because of the shared history, but as I read more and more of it it, I knew there was more to it than that. Cecily lives and writes bravely and nakedly and that makes her an outrageously entertaining writer. And she also felt like a kindred spirit to me, because she and her husband had also been on a journey of infertility and loss (and I'd learned via brief emails with Charlie about some of it -- and shared some of my own with them -- before I even discovered Cecily's blog )
Cecily's blog soon led me to dozens and dozens of other awesome blogs and I felt as if I'd discovered a whole new world -- a world of great women writers, and a world of subfertile sisters documenting their journeys, pain and triumphs.
And Cecily's blog and the blogs of these other women ultimately inspired me to start this little place of my own over here. It's not much, and it's surely neglected lately as I try to figure out what's next (and try to find time in the midst of a lot of career angst due to the craziness in my distressed industry, not to mention a one-year-old and a three-year-old).
Cecily and Charlie were brave enough to invite me, my husband and our boys over for their holiday open house. Although I hadn't seen either of them in more than 12 years (not really sure how long it's been past that), I was not surprised by their graciousness, which really comes through in what they write and post online too, as you know. They are just the same in person, and Tori is just as adorable and beautiful. It was a lovely evening for David and me and the boys.
And someday, when we finally get our new house together (nearly two years since we moved now), we plan to have them over here as well.
The whole experience has added to the whole holiday good will/happy spirit feeling, and I'm grateful to them for that goodness.
Hope it doesn't freak anyone out too much :)