B0ULDER'S BoxCars: Happy Birthday to Me?

As you might imagine aging isn't the thing that an infertile person most likes to do. I mean it doesn't rank up there in my favorite pastimes. Travel? Sure. Lazing by a pool? Absolutely. Spending time with my husband? You bet.

Turning another year over in the book of life? Not so much.

Imagine my surprise in discovering that I actually managed to enjoy myself this weekend. My husband was up to the task of being agreeable to almost anything, well everything when I think about it, I wanted to do from about 12pm on Friday to bedtime this evening.

We went for a great salad with shaved ribeye steak and spicy dressing one day, when I'm typically loath to spend money out food out of the house. We lazed around the pool each afternoon enjoying a newly created playlist of my favorite songs on the iPod. We shared a sundae from a restaurant that was kind enough to send me a free coupon for my birthday. He patiently handed me soaps from a high shelf in a bath shop when I was trying to decide on a scent for the new soap bottle. We watched things that we haven't had the time to this summer, and finally know how a few shows settled out at the end of their seasons. Last night I made an end of summer blueberry crumble. Today we used a gift card we were given at least 2 Christmas seasons ago, and enjoyed an amazing cup of French onion soup and split a hamburger, and then spent a last afternoon by the pool.

As I was wrapping up the day and thinking about my new age, I realized that together we'd simply relished the company we had, and rather than race around accomplishing things, we took each day in stride. It didn't take anything particularly glamorous, or even expensive. It was, however, lovely.

I highly recommend it, as it is good for the soul. I'm happier than I've felt in months.

Then I got a nice email that was the equivalent to a night cap. Apparently, Guy Kawasaki's (he of the famed Apple evangelist title in a previous incarnation) latest enterprise, alltop.com, has opened a new topic on infertility.

It made my heart breath a happy sigh to think that the topic of infertility has their interest in coverage, and to think that the next woman with an inkling or diagnosis of infertility who wonders where she will find kindred souls might have another way to connect with those of us who are already in the trenches.

The thing that I like most about alltop.com is that you can go look at their index and click through on any topic and be greeted with a great compilation of websites along with their RSS feeds showing each sites most recent postings. If you like a website, you can either continue to follow them on alltop.com or you can grab their RSS feed and bring it to your favorite aggregator (Google Reader, Bloglines, etcetera, or my personal favorite NetNewsWire.)

Oh, a little happy bit? I'm on their list. Go check it out (I get nothing from sending you there) and bookmark it for a link to get to the next new infertile you meet or for a friend who is still struggling.

That would make my birthday weekend seem simply over the top.

(PS - You do know that I'm twittering as "bboulderr" and am on facebook as "Bo Ulder" right?)