Acceptance and Irony*

I think acceptance is finally setting in. After 3.5 years of this, I'm finally able to talk about it in a normal conversation. Here's my example:

Yesterday, I was walking the dog and my neighbor, who just popped out her third child was outside with her 2 older girls. I don't know this neighbor all that well, but we smile or wave in passing. Well, this time,  we struck up a conversation about their new addition and then she proceeded to ask me  if we have any kids.

Normally, this would have stopped me in my tracks, and made me feel inadequate and just respond coyly, "Not yet." with a smile on my face, mostly to be vague.

But this time, I just felt compelled to be as normal and as a matter of fact about it and said, "No, we don't. We've actually been trying for quite a while"

And she responded with a very genuine, "Oh! I'm so sorry. That must be hard. I will pray for you in church."

And that was it... I thanked her very much and there was no drama, no stupid comments like "just adopt" or "have you tried putting a pillow under your ass". It was a normal adult conversation about a struggle and I didn't hide. I didn't run. I didn't lie. I just was me... all of me..

So I guess I'm finally accepting this journey and weaving it into my full self.

*(The Irony part of this story has been edited out for confidentiality reasons... sorry!)