Everything I needed to know I learned from my 9 year-old niece

"Sometimes the truth hurts." This is my niece's (we'll call her K) new saying these days. She is someone who has consistently inspired me throughout her life given her strong and free spirit and critical mind. So it came as no surprise to me that she summed up my situation last night without even knowing about it.

The two blood tests were negative - and were followed hours later by the arrival of AF. I was - and am - very sad. I let myself hope, let myself dream, about a new baby staring at the lights on the Christmas tree. I couldn't cry at the time because, well, I was in a lab with a couple of my sister's staff members. But, as books so often do in my life, I was provided with insight and comfort. I turned to the memoir that I am reading when waiting for the results. And I read an incredibly poignant passage:

The truth is that every single moment of every single life is uncertain. We go to great
lengths to deny this, so much do we crave the illusion of security. ... True power lies in
accepting the fact that everything is uncertain in every moment; it is the truth, and it is
where our freedom lies. A small shift in thinking, a slight willingness to admit the
possibility, and one can see that if everything is uncertain, then anything is possible.
(Forever Lilly, by Beth Nonte Russell)

The other comfort to me was the knowledge that I now have a community of women that I can turn to for support, advice, ways to laugh at the anguish that is TTC. The world of IF blogs is changing my life. (See, I warned you in my intro that I would sometimes fall into the realm of sappy!) Thanks to all of you!