Therapy

I taught myself to crochet when I moved to a new state, didn't know anyone, and started grad school. I was pretty lonely and in retrospect, probably slightly depressed. Learning to crochet was a good way to make myself feel productive when I was trying to adapt to the world of grad school and to feel connected to my loved ones when I was far away by making them gifts.

That was 10 years ago and I've come a long way. As you can tell from my pictures, I've been busy crocheting baby items to keep me busy during this wait. Or rather, given how busy I am with work, to make myself feel productive toward the goal of having a baby when all I am doing is waiting.

But there is another way that crochet is helping me. It is, once again, my therapy. More accurately, my therapy group. I have a knit and crochet group that meets monthly. It is a fun little group and, wouldn't you know it, adoption and IF permeate this group. Of the four of us, myself and someone else have been trying to conceive for a long time. Another person has some health issues that, right now, keep her from trying to conceive and make her suspect it will be difficult once they do start. Just today she mentioned that her husband has been talking about babies so they be starting down this road soon. This woman also happens to have been adopted. So it has been great to have an adult adoptee to talk to as I go down the adoption journey. She was born in the era of closed adoptions and has never tried to contact her birthfamily, but it has been terrific to hear her experience. And then the fourth member of our little group has a relationship with a teenager who recently gave birth and at one point this women was in discussions to adopt the child. The mother is parenting, but given their close relationship, my friend is taking an active in supporting her in raising the baby.