I think I am caught up after this.
Summer Camp Day 20: What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you? Did you repay the kindness? Did you blog about it?
This is a tough one for me.
Do I look at the little things? Like the time my micro mentor gave me a stained glass angel as I was leaving the program. She also gave me the advice that I can always go back to school. Or the card I recieved from a Quacker group member during my cycle, letting me know that I was in their thoughts and they were holding me in the light. Or the fact that I had several groups praying for me during my IVF cycle.
Or do I look at the bigger things? The fact that both my parents and FIL helped me to pay off my student loans. That was a huge weight off my shoulders.
I think the thing I really want to talk about in response to this question is the fact that FIL paid for our IVF. Considering he paid for a shared risk program, it was quite an investment.
FIL is sort of interesting, as I suspect at times he looks for things to help us with financially. Overall, we are fairly self sufficient. We do not live outside our means, and we do not expect outside help when we make a big financial leap. So we are not to bad, money wise. We just did not have the money to spend on IVF.
But he gave us the opportunity to expand our family. We would not have had that opportunity if he had not paid for it. I admit there was probably a selfish motivation on his part. He wanted an heir, he said. And we do give him the opportunity to see him, whenever they are in town. He loves all the pictures and stories about him.
But it was a big thing for us to have IVF paid for. And it did help expand our family.
Summer Camp Day 21: What names would you NEVER name a child or pet? What name do you wish you had been named? Do you like the name of your blog?
Names are important, I think. They are part of first impressions.
Pet names are really important, I think. I would never name a pet Spot, Fluffy, or anything which sounds too much like a pet name. Though my very first cat I named Rosebud. Turned out to be a hilarious name, as Rosebud was a big tom cat who was about as un-prissy as an animal can get. And for full disclosure, during college I had a gerbil I named Sparky.
Usually I will try and give animals a human-sounding name. Currently, we have Gertrude, Oscar, Maxine and Belle. Gertrude and Oscar are our Great Danes. Maxine and Belle are our two cats.
We now have a rule that we cannot name any children after pets. So none of our children will be named any of the above. Or Athena, Molly, or Bowzer. (Though I do not think Bowzer would ever be in the running. He was an apricot toy poodle who really needed all the help he could get in the masculinity department.)
I actually really like my name. It is a family name. I am named for my Grandmother. (Yes, the one I do not really get along with.) I have always insisted on going by my full first name, never a nickname. Which is unusual, as most people with my name go my a nickname or shortened version. My name is also an “old lady” type of name, which got a little bit of attention during my gerontology rotation in nursing school. My instructor was discussing old lady names, and my name came up. As a group, my clinical group turned and looked at me. I was sitting in the back, trying to look innocent, or least that I had no idea what they were thinking. I thought it was sort of funny.
I love the name of my blog. Do without doing is a concept in taoism. Basically, it says that if you do not push things, you will end up where you need to be. You will get there eventually, so enjoy the journey and live in the moment. I think it is applicable, no matter what I am going through, and something I definitely try to keep in mind.
Do Without Doing 