Once upon a very long time ago, two young aspiring artists met in an acting class in their old Kentucky home, the land where he was born and where her coal roots run bone deep. He enthralled her with Shakespearean monologues; she, him with blossoming culinary skills.
He moved to Austin, and not long after, when they got hitched, she followed him there. He got an MFA in Acting at UT Austin, and she got herself a job at the paper, but dreamed of artist days writing at city sidewalk cafes. After graduation they packed their boxes and discarded everything but the essentials and a box of crayons to color their lives in The Big Apple. There, they lived the dream of starving artists and imagined they would never leave.
But he started writing, too—Hollywood scripts to her literary fiction—and his dreams brought them to the sunnier border on the Pacific.
Though they didn’t have children, they made a commitment to each other. They doubled down when things got tough. A family, they thought, wasn’t an option. So, she went back to school and got her MFA in Creative Writing, improving those novel attempts baby step by baby step.
Their stops and starts along the way nearly broke their bond, but God is good, and He sustained them. They learned that family looks different for everyone, and what they had together was good.
Alas, they wanted to share that good. After multiple surgeries, two rounds of IVF and dwindled savings, they decided to rest their weary hearts, taking time to face adversity together, standing shoulder to shoulder. And then, they were ready to move on.
The child they’ve been dreaming of is out there. And they want to find her. Or him.
Yet, challenges remain. She’s an adjunct writing instructor; he practices rehabilitative Pilates. They are working artists, toiling away at the page whenever they can. Their wish is to share life with their children, but waiting is no longer an option.
That is why… this is happening. With a little grace and a whole lot of gratitude.
