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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Was it planned?


The post-it above has been stuck to our bathroom mirror since Feb 2007. I put it up when Michael returned home with his "project" airplane. Here's the entry from his blog:

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Oh yeah.. When I got home after picking up the project, there was this little post-it note on the mirror... A translation for those who may be confused at the terminology: (A) Lancair flys - that's this project.. (B) PhD in hand - Michelle is back in school going for her PhD in Biomechanics.. (C) 3:10 marathon - My Boston Marathon qualifying time.. Last year I was 30sec off, wasn't even close this year. (D) Slot to Kona - Michelle has hopes of getting a slot to the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI.. (E) Another Garel - Our mothers are hoping this win's the contest (though not hinting at anything - we're not trying at this moment).
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When I started to tell people I was pregnant I was surprised about the most common question I received, "Was it planned?" Eventually I started to ask people why this question had come up, they all seemed to have different reasons for asking me this. Even after hearing why they asked the question, it still continues to catch me off guard.

So, for those of you asking....

Yes, it was planned. It was more planned that most anyone knew. Michael & I have been together for 12 years and we decided long ago that we wanted to have kids. We also decided long ago that we weren't ready for kids, instead we wanted to have time together first. For a long time we knew we were still too selfish and when the time was right we'd know it.

We've known it's been getting closer for a few years and there are a few things that were 'checked off the list' before we tried to get pregnant. For example, running Boston with an injured foot. In general, I had no business to be running Boston last year but I knew it was something I wanted to do so Michael told me to go do it when I knew I could, check. The biggest thing was getting a faster Ironman time. IM FL was my 7th IM. Until that point, my first one had been my fastest and that was not sitting well with me. I signed up for FL knowing it was a fast course, probably my best chance to assure myself a fast time. I had a pie-in-the-sky goal of sub 11 hrs and with the help of strong training partners, good weather, and a great coach I managed to cross the line with a minute and a half to spare. I cannot begin to explain how great it felt to cross the line that night. As crazy as this might sound to many of you, that time is really what sealed the deal on starting a family.

One of my friends asked me if I'd accomplished everything I wanted to before starting a family. Of course I have. Michael and I have spent years together being selfish with our time together and now we are ready for our next challenge. Okay... I'm scared to death but I'm ready to be scared about it.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

congrats! So is the race on to get the plane finished ? :)

Summer said...

People asked us that sometimes too. Seems rather forward eh? I think if you've been married awhile (for Roger and I, it was 8 years) maybe they think you weren't ever going to have kids? I dunno.