Bun Without an Oven

With the time difference, it’s sometimes frustrating to go to bed wondering if any news will arrive overnight. Will any messages be waiting in your inbox when you wake up?

This morning feels like Christmas. It’s been such a long time coming. We wake up to finally receive the message we’ve been waiting for. We might get to meet someone—this super special someone who will hopefully change our lives forever.

It’s the weekend, so we’ve slept in. We both roll over to check our phones. Jan says calmly, “Do you see the email?”
The urgent excitement from a year ago has long worn off after so many false alarms. But there it is—the message we’ve anxiously anticipated from our agency:
“Great news! This super-sweet GC Candidate has been pre-approved by your clinic.”

We take a moment, turn to each other, the look of surprise on our faces softening into quiet smiles. We know better than to get our hopes up too high, but this is different. It feels like the wind is finally returning to our sails, ready to push us forward.

Slowly getting out of bed, Jan goes to make our morning coffee. I bundle up—it’s still quite cold—and head to the balcony to drink it. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun is beaming on my face. I soak it all in. I’ve felt a lot of emotions over this past year, but finally, an old, familiar one has returned to me: hope.

It finally feels like we’re being called to the starting line. Making it past this step of pre-approval with our clinic has been a much bigger hurdle than expected—one whole year behind our original timeline. But now, our patience is beginning to pay off.

As we head from winter to spring, I can’t help but notice: the days are getting brighter, in more ways than one.