These pics are from Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle (they had free professional photographers!). Find more great pics from Seattle with ideas for what to do/where to go, here. 

It’s the end of nap time. Normally nap time is this awesome time when I get to detox after a morning of getting things thrown at me or watching things get thrown at other people.

These days I need nap time. We’re going through a period of disequilibrium. And it’s not pretty when mama doesn’t get some down time.

But it didn’t happen today.

Lesson: NEVER do errands during nap time. You let down yourself and the errands.

I went to the grocery store and then FedEx. I needed to mail two prayer shawls to friends. These are awesome shawls that women at our church knit to provide comfort to anyone who may need it. The pray as they knit. That is awesome. I picked out shawls for two lovely friends who are going through some sh*tty times. The shawls were blessed today by our fantastic priest, who gave this rockin’ sermon about her time as a mentee of one of the first Episcopal woman priests. I digress….

Point being: I was upbeat. Because women priests rock.

Lesson: Never be upbeat when going on errands. High expectations only lead to broken bones hearts. 

So I get to FedEx all gung-ho: Let’s get this sh*t mailed!

Oh wait. No one is available to help me because you’re all on the phone? No worries! I’ll just grab boxes and forms, and fill these suckers out so I’m all set!

Ten minutes later the Lady comes over: “I see you’re shipping these Express Air.”

NO! Who ships personal stuff Express Air? Seriously, Lady? I did not fly here in my private plane.

It leads one to wonder: Why are the only boxes within reach of the peasants the Express Air boxes? Well, we peasants do like to steal cheap stuff, so better keep the Ground boxes out of reach….

The Ground boxes are behind the desk. But FedEx Lady can’t figure out what size I’ll need. She’s “not good with numbers,” she says.

Why don’t you bring a couple boxes over here and we can try them out??

She thinks this is a good idea. I mean, Lady, we are mailing shawls here. They can squish into anything.

Then she gets to my forms.

“Oh, I should have come over earlier and told you to fill out these forms.”

Yes, you damn well should have. Because all your f*&king FedEx forms are varying shades of pastel purple with pale gray writing. 

Lesson: Never, NEVER, fill out a FedEx form without first waving it in an employee’s face and yelling, “U-S-A! Ground! Cheapest ship! This form!”

At that point I lost it. My nap time detox window was closing in on me. I was going to spend the rest of my time filling out forms while FedEx Lady tried to punch numbers into her monkey computer.

Not good. I put my head in my hands. Not good at all.

And that’s when I ended up in my car, shawls on the passenger seat, headed home, crying terrible cries and gnashing terrible teeth, with snot and tears streaming down my face.

Lesson: Driving in the car is a  great place to have an over-the-top and cathartic ugly-cry because you’re in a soundproof container and everyone else is paying attention to the road.

I’m at an emotional place at this particular moment in my life when wasting my me-time is treacherous. I need it. I really, really need it. Like, do you have any? Because I’ll buy it from you. How much do you want for it?

Luckily my husband is home because it’s Sunday. And when I got back, defeated by bureaucracy and barely able to speak, he suggested I hole away in our bedroom.

But they’ll find me. The children will find me. 

“How about the guest room?”

Yes! They won’t know I’m there! 

So here I am. Hiding away, refilling my tank before going back up for another round.

Up to 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. And I have more friends than I’d like to count who’ve suffered at least one.

Miscarriage is a funny thing–it’s grief that no one knows how to talk about.

We’re supposed to wait to announce pregnancies until the second trimester, when risks of something going wrong are lower. That means women need to keep possibly the most exciting news of their lives secret, so they can be protected.

From what?

If something goes wrong, they’re isolated, and dealing with a tragic loss without the support of community.

Women may tell a few trusted friends or family, but the experience still leaves you feeling like an alien in a foreign land. You go on trying to function in a world that’s just the same, but you are different.

Well Lauren is a wonderful writer, and she started a brave new blog called On Fecund Thought that’s both a forum and a very poignant place to visit for anyone who has suffered a miscarriage or known someone who has.

Lauren recently wrote about waiting in the OB/GYN’s waiting room for a loss support group to start, amidst regular patients:

*

If you’ve known someone who’s suffered a miscarriage, or you have, or your spouse has, go over and visit On Fecund Thought.

Lauren’s words are often poetic, and her list of resources and suggestions for how to support someone going through miscarriage are right on.

Not sure where to begin? Start with this post about ten things not to say, and ten suggestions for how to support someone going through miscarriage.