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The American Fertility Association Blog
Holiday Greetings
December 23, 2007 - Sunday
Posted by admin
From everyone at The AFA to all of you, Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year! We’ll be back the first full week in January.
Categories
Adoption
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The Diet….
December 20, 2007 - Thursday
Posted by Pamela
So...I owe you a check in...and you know..those of you that are watching the pounds with me...you could check in too!
Bring out the marching bands...I have met my first goal of 20 pounds! Now, I understand that is not enough to get me on Oprah...or The Biggest Loser..but for me that is huge. I am actually for the first time in a very, very, long time..thinner than the picture to the right!!!! Is it time for a new head shot?? A make over? How would I look as a blonde?
Just to remind you.. if you have been following along...I have been on Atkins since last June. Basically, I eat butter!!! I am kind of like the opposite of a vegetarian..I am allowed to eat everything with a face or if it comes from something with a face!! Everything else...I count!!
Attractive, huh?
The holidays are challenging - and I am choosing simply to not indulge. I am not good at taking a day off - and then getting back on the horse. It is easier for me to just stay on the horse then to get on and off.
Also the weight loss is SO slow for me...that it just does not feel worth it. But let’s see how I do after four days at my sister in laws house for the holidays. UGH. I leave tomorrow.
She puts out this groaning board of sweets in the living room...it is like some holy shrine of temptation...and it is constantly staring everyone in the face...so pray for me.
My next goal is a small one..it’s really just three pounds..but it will put me in a new weight class! So I will let you know when I make it...and somehow holiday fudge does not fit in the plan...or “magic square bars” or plum pudding (yes, there will be home made plum pudding with hard sauce)!!! So it’s time to buckle down...fight off temptation...and keep the course!!!
Who is with me? Pass the stick of butter please!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Pamela
Categories
Adoption
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Trust….
December 19, 2007 - Wednesday
Posted by Pamela
Trust is a very interesting concept...there are so many ways that we all trust everyday...and there are interpretations of trust...what trust actually is...and why and who we choose to trust. Some trust is actually unconscious..we trust perhaps that we will drive to work safely..we don’t think very much about it...or we trust that children will be safe at school…
Sometimes we are forced to trust...we have no choice. And when we are forced or asked to trust..does that really count as trust? Or is it really simply being stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Today is one of those days for me...I am driving my sister to the hospital for her fourth surgery connected to a staph infection caught during her bi-lateral mastectomy three years ago. For my sister - breast cancer has almost been besides the point...it has been the life and death struggle of her post operative infection that has ruled her life...not breast cancer.
And so, I find myself thinking about trust...am I trusting her caregivers...or right now does my entire family feel stuck between a rock and a hard place...what choice do we have but to trust?
I find myself praying quietly to myself..opening my heart to trust...perhaps this time...we will move through this chapter in my sister’s life…
Until Tomorrow,
Pamela
Categories
Adoption
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The Fertility Race…..
December 18, 2007 - Tuesday
Posted by Pamela
I have done more media than anyone I know who is not famous has a right to do. Sometimes I do as many as three or four interviews a week. And I have been doing that for a very long time...and it is such a hit and miss experience...sometimes the reporter or editor nails it...and sometimes they just don’t.
Doing media is not glamorous...I have shown up at 5 am to do a morning news show and have been literally forgotten in the green room!! My entire family has dedicated full days to taping magazine news shows on infertility - that have never aired...or when they do air...eight hours of taping is three minutes of air time...But I do it, because working with the media is one of the best ways that I know of to educate the public, and influence health care policy in this country...and the good media that I do often out paces the pieces that I am disappointed in.
The other day I came across a piece of media that I think is one of the best pieces that I have ever participated in...it was called The Fertility Race.... and it was done with NPR and MSNBC.....
I remember that we spent three days with the reporters...the entire family....the kids were so young...and I was in an old weight class!!!
At the time, I was the either the President of RESOLVE NYC or the Executive Director....I don’t remember...for me the names of the organizations have changed...but the work...and what drives me and my staff has not. A few of us have been together as long as this piece is old!!!!
If you want a peek at how I live...even though the place has been updated a bit...it is still the same place...I still work from home..as does all of my staff...and the imperative is unchanged. At the time of this interview - we were working on passing the NY State Mandate...we did it.
So...I invite you to be voyeurs...peek into my living room...view “Pamela’s Photo Album” or listen to the audio tour of my home, that NPR called “The Shrine to Infertility”...the kids are almost grown now...I am now the Executive Director of The American Fertility Association...the cat, bird, and guinea pigs are no longer with us...but the rest...well...the rest has stayed surprisingly the same.
Until Tomorrow -
Pamela
Categories
Adoption •
Fertility •
Infertility
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Got Time?
December 17, 2007 - Monday
Posted by Pamela
I volunteered for the first incarnation of The AFA for ten years before I became the Executive Director.
Volunteering was therapy for me. It helped me cope during a time when I felt like I couldn’t cope. It took my mind off of my own troubles...and I felt like something good was coming out of my own personal pain. I was taking that pain and turning it into a powerful life force by directing it to help others.
And I was a busy person! I was working...and life was full....yet somehow I created the time to give my time.
How about you? Have you ever thought about volunteering?
We could use you!! Right now there are several projects that we are working on - and perhaps you would like to help out?
Some of our projects are short term. You could volunteer to work on an event that interests you - or you could volunteer to help out on an ongoing basis - as need arises.
Right now we could use volunteers to help us get the word out about our San Francisco Family Matters Conference!
If you live in the Bay Area - you could help us out by dropping off flyer’s at health clubs and community centers.
We need help outreaching to the LGBT Community...could you be our ambassador?
And if you don’t live in San Francisco...you could help us by posting the event on the Internet - and helping with Public Relations around the event! There is a lot to do...and we need help.
We are also in the beginning stages of planning our NYC Family Matters Conference...perhaps you would like to help us with that? Or help out with one of our regional fundraisers? Do you like working on publications? Anne our newsletter editor - always need help in following up and soliciting writers...would you like to help with that? It can be very interesting work..and you get to talk to a lot of cool people!
Maybe this year you feel like you can’t write a check...maybe this year will be the year that you will give us the gift of time.
So...come on...fill out the volunteer form!!! It will do your heart good!!! Just click here!!!
Until Tomorrow -
Pamela
Categories
Adoption •
Gay and Lesbian Family Building
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