Socks = hope

I've been meaning to have a follow up post on fertility socks for awhile. For those of you who are not familiar with them, I recommend reading this post as well as this page.

A lot has happened since the first sock exchange. More than I could ever have imaged. Yet through it all, my life has been filled through my interactions with everyone in this community. And so, in an effort to spread the love and support, I propose a second fertility sock exchange.

Here are the rules:
1) Leave a comment below to let me know if your interested. This exchange is open to anyone who has been touched by IF, be it you're currently in treatment, preparing for treatment, recently diagnosed, pregnant after IF, parenting after IF or even supporting someone dealing with IF.

2) Once you've received your recipient's names, please contact them.

3) Socks do NOT need to be handmade. Again, when I originally started doing this, I did it because I'm a crazy knitter who in addition to wanting to give something that was handmade also uses knitting as a form of therapy. Please do not feel that you need to learn to knit, crotchet or sew in order to participate. And there are some amazing sock stores out there.

4) If you can no longer participate in the exchange, please contact me immediately. Yes, life happens and unseen circumstances can require you to focus your energy elsewhere. But please don't leave your recipient hanging. I'm more than happy to reassign, as long as I'm aware that you can no longer participate.

Deadline for participation is March 21st. I'll post a reminder as the deadline comes closer.

I'll end today by sharing with you the socks I received.

First set is from Toni at Who is this "Fertile Myrtle"

Toni sent an explanation with the socks: To the Egyptians, the frog was a symbol of life and fertility, since millions of them were born after the annual inundation of the Nile, which brought fertility to the otherwise barren lands. Consequently, in Egyptian mythology, there began to be a frog-goddess, who represented fertility, named Heget (also Heqet, Heket), meaning frog. Heget was usually depicted as a frog, or a woman with a frog's head, or more rarely as a frog on the end of a phallus to explicitly indicate her association with fertility.

That, and it's hard not to smile when looking at these guys. Thank you Toni!!!

The second set is from a friend from an online forum.

On top of being comfy, the message is loud and clear. Thank you Nicole!!


Finally, my third set from Grey.

As I've mentioned before, we have Anna's hummingbirds that have been wintering with us. Following the D&C, these little guys were one of only a handful of reasons to get out of bed (note for anyone with hummingbirds: they are very particular about their food). I still remember Grey laughing for the first time while watching these small animals chew me out after I allowed their food to freeze. They are my symbol of hope.

Finally, I'm leaving you today with an image that warms my heart.