Last week, Mel at Stirrup Queens reached a landmark, writing
her 600th
Friday Roundup, where she highlights posts from around the ALI (Adoption
Loss Infertility) blogging community, and invites us to do the same in the
comments. This is an amazing achievement, and has taken real commitment to read
multiple blogs every week, and to then consistently post a Roundup of posts
every Friday for the last eleven years (missing only one on average per year).
I know that many of you don’t read Mel’s blog, but I have
noticed that increasingly the posts she is highlighting are from the No Kidding
community, and increasingly, the posts highlighted in the comments are from our
community too. In doing this, she helpfully brings our perspectives to the
wider infertility blogging community, legitimises our choices and our lives,
and also reminds us where we came from. And for that, I thank her.
Likewise, her Microblog Mondays project, has kept me
blogging and writing about our No Kidding lives consistently, and succinctly,
for some years now. I’m pretty sure I’d still be writing here, but probably not
as regularly, especially as I keep this for No Kidding thoughts only, writing
more generally on A Separate Life about my everyday life, and this year blogging daily on TakeTwo x365. So I am thankful for that too, as this space, and my interactions
with you are all, are important to me.
It is because of Mel that I found this community and though my path for resolving infertility has been different, the wisdom and strength I’ve found from bloggers like you has not only helped me heal from the trauma of infertility but also given me a model for how one should be building a happy life (news flash: children and a spouse are not responsible for making one happy; that has to come from within).
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad this section of the ALI community is growing. You are all an important part and your voices are instrumental in changing the conversation surrounding infertility and loss
You made me weepy. Thank YOU -- for writing and for being you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being a voice for the No Kidding perspective. So much of this journey is made easier by seeing that others have walked the same path and it's been ok. You have helped me with that and I'm so grateful!
ReplyDeleteYes! This community that Mel has cultured and kept together is something truly special. I am so thankful for you, too, and how you champion the No Kidding people, and provide perspectives on living childfree not by choice throughout the healing process. You are such an important voice, and I found you through Mel! The support in this community has quite literally saved my life throughout this journey, and knowing that it would be okay if things didn't work out in the parenting department was instrumental to not being a mess in a pit forever. I love this tribute, I love Mel, and I love you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing this in honor of Mel. She has brought together so many ALI people who took different paths through infertility, and I have gained so much from understanding these paths. I am thankful for the No Kidding community, as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one of you or of the other community either. I don't remember how I found Mel but am grateful I did for through her I found you and others who have brought insight and a measure of joy.
ReplyDeleteSo, thank you Mel. And thank you for sharing so much of yourself.
I'm so glad you wrote this post! All of us who blog about infertility, loss, adoption &/or involuntary childlessness (whether we read her or not), owe Mel a huge debt -- me included. I started hanging out & commenting on Stirrup Queens before I had my own blog, and she personally encouraged me to start it. She's done so much to connect us all and help us understand each other better. :)
ReplyDeleteAdding my thanks as well. I haven’t been as disciplined in my writing but I am grateful nonetheless less for the continuity and community. xo
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