Icing and Animal Crackers

Choosing a name for a blog is difficult… especially an infertility blog.  Every title that popped into my head was already being used.  The content of this blog is precious to me, so finding the right name was important.   

The week after our miscarriage I started writing. It was just a word document with all my thoughts and feelings. I went back in my memories and put our experiences into words. I was on the phone with my sister one evening and I told her I had started writing. She said listening to me talk about my writing was the most spark she had heard in my voice in a while. I told her I was thinking about putting the stories into a blog, but I wasn’t really sure where to start. She suggested I contact a friend of hers who is a journalist. Not only is she a journalist, but she works with people to help tell their stories. Darla graciously agreed to meet me, and we had the most wonderful visit. We talked about a lot of things, and one thing I asked her about was my blog name. She asked if Dustin and I had any inside jokes that could play into the title. We have a lot of inside jokes, but none of them immediately stood out as being appropriate for the blog.

I had set a goal to have this blog up and running by September long weekend.  On August 25^th I was racking my brain for a name and decided to scroll my camera role for inspiration.  Ten pictures in and there it was: a picture of a jar of Betty Crocker vanilla icing and a bag of animal crackers.  So why are these things significant?  Well, in high school when I was stressed over an exam, I would eat.  While studying for my Chem 30 final in grade 12 I went into the pantry and grabbed a jar of icing and a box of ice cream cones.  I dipped the cones into the frosting while I stressed over my notes and the next day, I did surprisingly well on the final.  I attributed it to my choice of stress snack. 

When I had my first miscarriage, my sister showed up at my house with icing and animal crackers.  A variation of my stress snack that had helped me get through my Chem final.  Something to help me get through a stressful time.   

Every time we’ve had an unsuccessful fertility treatment, Mary has dropped off icing and animal crackers.  It’s something so simple yet so significant.  It is the perfect name for this blog.