Hi y'all!

Liberal Catnip has linked to me after much brouhaha started by a very nice man named Warren Kinsella over female bloggers in the Canadian blogosphere this week. Hi Catnip!! \/\/\/\/ (That's me waving....hehe) In honour of her sending me linky love, (and calling me a Smart Canadian Female Blogger) this is one I had stuck in drafts, and I'm pressing publish, just so y'all can see why the personal really is political.

Dear Stephane Dion,

Until a few weeks ago, I felt alone in the Liberal Party, since I believe I may be one of the only Liberals to ever admit publicly to being infertile, or to speaking publicly about my pregnancy losses. One in four women in Canada will go through a miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death in her lifetime, & one in five Canadians will experience the disease of infertility.

Yet somehow, I'm one of the few who would say it out loud. Statistically, at least 22 male MPs in the House of Commons must have low counts or non-functioning sperm. And at least 20 of the women MPs must have reproductive problems that have caused infertility or pregnancy loss, but except for private conversations, quiet rumours, and a few unwilling outings I'm the lonely only. Doesn't seem logical, does it?

Until the recent profile article in Macleans, and this article in The Globe & Mail a few weeks back. In them, you discussed openly your infertility with your wife and the adventure of adopting your daughter from Peru. (No, I know you didn't say which one of you was infertile, or if it was both of you, but it doesn't matter to me.) You talked about parenting after infertility and your refusal to abdicate your responsibility to Jeanne when governments came calling, and careers beckoned.

You & your wife came out.

And I'm not the only one anymore.

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the IF community.

It's so nice when the personal and the political go together so well, isn't it?

Signed, your new biggest fan,

Aurelia