Unexpected Tribe

I have been putting off doing my first post on this blog for about six months, because writing down the whole backstory feels like such a tremendous undertaking that I just procrastinate instead.  So, at the insistence of a friend, I'm just starting with today.  I'll give you a little backstory here, and fill in the rest as I go.

So today...I'm almost 9 weeks pregnant!!!  This is a joy that has been at least five years in the making and I am now happily pregnant with what I affectionately call a "turkey baster baby" conceived between me (a single, straight, 41-year-old female) and Mike, my 39-year-old single, gay, male friend. We have gone to counseling, drawn up court documents, and signed 40 pages of contracts about how we intend to co-parent this very wanted child.

We really haven't made it public yet, but it's been hard to keep it much of a secret.  So many people have been on this journey with me for so long, that when they ask how things are going, I usually can't lie or even hide the fact that...something finally worked!

Today I told one of our mutual friends that I am pregnant, and she was SO excited for us.  It gave me the same feeling that I've had after telling several other friends--the feeling of an unexpected family. My family situation has never been typical, my way of becoming a parent is certainly not typical, and most of my life has been about doing things by myself.  Somehow, though, I now find myself surrounded by what I can only call a beautiful, eclectic little tribe.  So many people have laughed with me, cried with me, said too much, said too little, and probably genuinely worried about my well-being through my attempts to become a parent, and now here they are all, each in his/her own unique way, thrilled as can be about the prospect of this new little life.  I feel so much (unexpected) genuine interest, excitement, support, love, and generosity from so many people--black, white, brown, gay, straight, old, young, related, unrelated, funny, serious, rich, poor, talkative, quiet, intellectual, artsy, and everything in between.  I love my unexpected tribe, and I love that this child is being born into an abundance of love and family that shows up in all kinds of ways.