Saturday, December 11, 2010

Laura Bush - One of Us

Apparently, former first lady, Laura Bush, dealt with infertility as well. I found a quote from her on Hillary's blog and I had to investigate further, as I knew no one could make a statement like that without experiencing infertility first-hand.

Politics aside, I always felt Laura Bush was a graceful, strong woman. I love her even more after reading this excerpt from her book,

"For some years now, the wedding invitations that had once crowded the mailbox had been replaced by shower invites and pink-or-blue-ribboned baby announcements. I bought onesies or rattles, wrapped them in yellow paper, and delivered them to friends. I had done it with a happy wistfulness, believing that someday my time, my baby, would come. George and I had hoped that I would be pregnant by the end of his congressional run. Then we hoped it would be by the time his own father announced his presidential run, then by the presidential primaries, the convention, the general election. But each milestone came and went. The calendar advanced, and there was no baby.

The English language lacks the words to mourn an absence. For the loss of a parent, grandparent, spouse, child or friend, we have all manner of words and phrases, some helpful some not. Still we are conditioned to say something, even if it is only “I’m sorry for your loss.” But for an absence, for someone who was never there at all, we are wordless to capture that particular emptiness. For those who deeply want children and are denied them, those missing babies hover like silent ephemeral shadows over their lives. Who can describe the feel of a tiny hand that is never held?"

6 comments:

C said...

Beautiful quote! and so true...

Lil La said...

I love that. I just heard another one on Oprah this week and I thought of you and many others. Oprah had on that Doctor back east who lost his wife and two daughters to a brutal murder and he survived. He said in similar words, when you lose your parents, you are an orphan, when you lose your wife you are a widower, when you lose your husband you are a widow, when you lose a child, there is no word in the English language for it because there just Isn't even a word appropriate or good enough to describe it. It was touching and heartbreaking.

Tami said...

I LOVE this...I am going to snag it!! :)

A said...

I saw that, too, and loved it!

teridiane said...

Wow. This brought tears to my eyes. Reading something like that brings all those feelings flooding back. It's hard to describe the feelings infertility brings in words, but she did a pretty good job...as do you, Michelle. I think I've told you before, but you have a gift for painting a picture with words, just as Laura Bush did in that quote. I think you should write a book too!!

Browniris said...

Thanks for sharing this quote...it is beautiful!

FAITH IN GOD MEANS HAVING FAITH IN HIS TIMING.