Thursday, February 21, 2008

You're not the only one

The deadline for submissions for the charity anthology "You're not the only one" is looming, and i'm toying with submitting this piece (any crits more than welcome :-)) :


You’re not the only one. Happens all the time, quite common, really.

But it doesn’t happen all of the time to me. It’s not that common to me.

And at least now you know that you can conceive.

Thank you. But this was our baby, not a dress rehearsal.

I’m sure that everything will work out fine next time.

Are you? I wish I was. I’ve heard that before, in tones implying that I was a silly little thing, so anxious over a few spots of blood.

Its nature’s way, you know.

Ah, is it? And here’s me thinking I was being punished by some particularly vengeful god.

And at least it wasn’t born with something wrong with it.

We’ll crack open the bubbly.

It was probably for the best.

There have been a lot of ‘bests’ in my life so far. Losing my baby isn’t one of them.

I don’t know what to say.

No-one does. And that's just fine. There are no words that can make a difference. “Sorry” will do just fine

5 comments:

JJ said...

With all the wonderful words in our language, why, sometimes, can we not find the right ones?

I liked this. A little defensive, maybe, but that's your right, and I think demonstrates just how you feel.

JJx

Lucy Diamond said...

Oh Kate, reading this made me feel all tearful. Wish I could give you a hug.
Send it in, it's a moving piece of writing.
xxx

Lane said...

It's tight. It oozes emotion and the last two lines are perfect.

Remeber to get it in before the deadline:-)
x

Kate.Kingsley said...

Thank you so much for your comments.

I've chomped down on the bullet and submitted it (why does submitting always turn my stomach to water?) so fingers crossed.

I think i was feeling rather defensive when I wrote it, JJ. Now that I'm through the initial rawness I seem to be entering the "why me?/It's not fair!!" phase. I started a thread to this effect on a miscarriage form, and was inundated with responses, so I'm really hoping that it does reassure others that they're not the only one.

:-)

Kelly said...

One priceless comment I received was "you should be getting on with making a new baby"...just days after everything started wrong.

I'm not yet in the league of the proper writer, but would urge you to send it in...it struck a cord with me. Sometimes knowing that you are not the only one is no consolation at all.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see you again.

Kelly