Here we are April 12 — more than a month, 32 days to be exact — from the holiday second only to Christmas for making me feel bad. Yes, the first mother’s day ad has landed in my inbox. It’s from ancestry.com and the ad copy for a custom book they’re offering reads:
“You are part of a family with a rich history and unique tradition. You are continuing a story that is centuries in the making. What does your family name mean and where does it come from? When and how did
people sharing your name immigrate to the U.S.? What did they do and
how did they live? Our Name in History is a great way to spend time
with mom and learn about the history that brought your family together.”
Yeah? Well for my modest twig of the family tree, the story tens of thousands of years in the making, ends here. The family tree has always fascinated me. As a child I wondered during a little geneaology research for a class project what my little twig would grow into. My fascination later morphed into sadness when it became clear that I couldn’t have children. It’s the imagery I use to start my novel.
Back to the topic at hand. Now what’s my strategy going to be for shielding myself from the onslaught of mother’s day ads? Clearly I’ve got to accelerate my thinking. My inbox and the airwaves are going to be flooded very soon…
P.S. Note to self: Consult with Aunt Sassy. She has a post that gave me
a good belly laugh. I’m guessing she’ll have some great ideas.
April 13, 2007 2:42 am
I’m always a little irked by the ancestry search adds that appear above my MSN infertility board. So inappropriate.
Mother’s Day — We are not going to D’s grandmother’s big annual shindig, where all the mommies get special gifts and where I have received “mother at heart” gifts for the past 3 years. Instead we will visit my own mom and celebrate my very close relationship with her. I found that worked well last year for Father’s Day too — it helps that our familes are 5 hours apart.
Re: the onslaught of ads and online sale reminders — the delete icon is our friend.
April 13, 2007 3:35 pm
Your GMIL shindig sounds positively awful. Even makes a baby shower seem preferable. Glad you’ll be elsewhere this year…
April 13, 2007 6:53 am
Ah yes, on Mother’s Day I will be taking my mum and mil to a show that I am a part of. We tell the stories of our mothers and their lives. Guess that tradition ends with me. Not that I’m dwelling on that or anything. Do you think if I write a play about IVF, I could tour it to all the Fertility centres across the world?
April 13, 2007 3:33 pm
Do you extras, a chorus line? If not, I’d like a front row seat, please!
April 13, 2007 9:51 am
The Aunt Sassy piece was great, thank you for the link. It helps so much to see that other people go through similar stuff. It’s horrible to say that, I wish no-one was going through this but it helps to read stories of other people’s experiences, I really needed that.
April 13, 2007 2:47 pm
We’ll get through it, we’ll just have to find an island somewhere in a remote ocean where we IF’s can forget about “that” day! 🙂
April 13, 2007 9:51 pm
Ahhhh yes, every infertiles fave holiday– Mother’s Day. I’m leaving the country. No kidding.
Like you, PJ, the next 4 wks will be a matter of putting on the blinders and just surviving…
April 14, 2007 3:39 pm
You know Mothers is also a brand of wheat germ. You could start looking at the day as simply Happy Wheat Germ Day 🙂 Bake a big loaf of bread. Smile benignly at salespeople who mention Mother’s Day and tell them that you are also so psyched to celebrate wheat germ. Aaaah…the goodness of it.
April 15, 2007 4:43 am
I dread Mother’s Day! It’s the ultimate celebration that reminds me of my infertility. I better start planning a getaway on that weekend.