Meh. I have a rescue who has some behavior issues, but is generally delightful. It’s good to know what you’re getting into. Not every dog can heal from trauma and sometimes it’s just a bad fit between dog and owner. We’re also in the process of adopting from foster care. In the classes, they tell you all the scariest…

“I HAD AN EXPERIENCE AND EVERYONE ELSE’S EXPERIENCE WILL BE IDENTICAL TO TO MINE.”

Ladies and gentlement, I give you Trump Nation.

This is the inevitable and perfect outcome to the satanic scourge known as the Lifestyle Blog, in which people with a SLR camera and marginal talent build virtual monuments to their own narcissism. “Admire me!” they scream. “Envy me! Ask me for my diet and exercise tips!” These blogs take everything we once ridiculed…

I’m all for them starting a relationship, despite the fact that it meant ending the marriage and sorting through the kids’ confusion, but why the rush to get engaged and married? I mean, they met, when, last summer? And then it was “We’re in love!” And then, “We’re engaged!!! Love wins!” What about letting the dust…

Couple of things: I agree with your basic point. It’s not fair to girls if biological males are competing in their sports. I think this family is being incredibly selfish and, ultimately, hurting the trans rights cause.

Hugs to you.

Fwiw, when I was pregnant with my son after 2 miscarriages, I stayed a bit disconnected from it at first, but then I decided that for as long as I had this child, I was going to love it. So even if the pregnancy ended, I would have given it love. That was my way of coping. YMMV, of course.

My therapist brought me back a photo of one of the shrines!

You don’t say? Women’s equality being sacrificed at the altar of trans progress? Knock me over with a feather.

No better way to shut down a conversation than to mention your pregnancy losses! I’ve sometimes wanted to print up a t-shirt reading,“Ask me about my miscarriages,” just to see what happens.

Maybe Mortal is grasping the full complexity of this situation and you’re not.

Actually, different cultures have had different ways of acknowledging these losses for all these centuries you’ve referenced. The Japanese have shrines and recognize these lives as existing between nothingness and full personhood. Some Native American tribes enacted full burial rituals for stillborn or miscarried…

Exactly.

What a wonderfully balanced view you expressed. Thank you!

1) Regarding the certificate: My first two losses were early and I don’t feel any need for state recognition. Those felt more like the loss of a dream or of a potential. But my daughter who I delivered and held? Who likely would have lived if we could’ve gotten her through 1 more week of gestation (I’ll spare you the…

I understand your reluctance, but I also think it’s possible that the legislators did, in fact, construct the language so that it doesn’t approach designating personhood.

You’re looking for black-and-white where there is none. It’s all shades of gray. As I said above, I delivered my daughter, kissed her head, counted her fingers and toes. She had a name. A week later, my milk came in. Imagine having milk and no baby. So was this a purely emotional loss? Was this not a lost child? And…

I understand your concern, but if it can be non-weaponized, I’m all for this.

You can’t imagine, so it’s not real. Right.