At least it doesn't make me cry anymore

I love where I work, but sometimes I wish I didn't work with so many people who are young enough to be growing their families. We have had 6 babies born to faculty/staff in the last 5 weeks. No joke! Dealing with infertility while working there has been extremely tough. Over the past few years, I have had to avoid or walk out of several meetings where the new or upcoming babies were being celebrated. My friends had to find a time to tell me about their own pregnancies when no one else was around to see my emotional breakdown. It is not fun to meet their wonderful news with tears. Those same friends have been so supportive and understanding about my emotional state - no questions asked about my missing a baby shower. To make it even worse, a lot of these new babies are the second ones being born since I started fertility treatments a few years ago. We were supposed to have our kid already!

I guess the point of this post is to show how moving on to adoption has totally changed my outlook. I haven't cried once these last 5 weeks, or before that when another friend shared her pregnancy. I have even held a baby in my arms for the first time in years (except my niece). No longer am I on this emotional roller coaster of maybe this next time the pregnancy will last. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, and a baby is waiting there. (Ok, so I just started crying, but it is a good kind of crying. I swear!)

Explaining Star Stuff

Since becoming a physics teacher, I have learned so much. I now appreciate the world around me at a much deeper level. Okay, so Mike's love of astronomy and his ability to explain it have helped me, too. Many years ago Mike introduced me to one of his favorite science writers, an astrophysicist named Carl Sagan. Sagan had a gift for writing about the universe and sharing the beauty and wonder of it all. In Cosmos, Sagan reminds us that "we are made of star stuff." Mike and I love the idea that we are composed of atoms that were created in ancient stars and because of that we are connected to everything else in the universe. How profound! I get chills just thinking about it.

So, when I decided to start the blog and had to think of what to call it, my nerdy side kicked in (when doesn't it kick in?). I wanted to have a blog name that reflected my fascination with the universe and everything in it, and I started looking through quotes by Carl Sagan. At the same time, I wanted to tie the blog title into the bundle of joy Mike and I are eager to bring home. I ran across the star stuff quote and played around with different title ideas. They usually came across as sounding too much like a science blog, or just a really goofy website. After a couple of days of deep thought, I realized how said bundle of joy will be made of star stuff, and that star stuff will be our very own. Hence the name, Our Very Own Star Stuff.

I leave you with a video that was put together from clips of some of my favorite science-type people - Carl Sagan (seen below), Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Richard Feynman. I had to shrink it down to make it fit, so I recommend watching it full screen. Enjoy!

The Whys and Wherefores

After getting lost in the blogosphere while reading about others who have navigated the world of adoption, I wanted to start my own blog to document our journey. This blog will start out as therapy for me to help me deal with the lasting effects of our infertility. Soon it will be a way to keep others informed of the adoption process and will one day (soon I hope!) turn into funny stories associated with raising our child(ren).

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I look forward to hearing from you!