You Know You're Infertile When...

…nobody wants to tell you that they're pregnant. I was reading up on other people's lives on my social networking site the other day, and my step-sister's step-mom (those of you with dysfunctional families will understand that, it's not my mom) wrote the following: "I got a phone call from Germany this morning from my beautiful and smart granddaughter and she told me a secret...she is going to be a big sister in April. Don and I are very happy to be grandparents for the second time"

Now, unless my step-sisters' step-mom has another granddaughter that I don't know about, who happens to live in Germany, too… I just found out that my step-sister is pregnant through Face.book. Son of a… I guess I'm so damaged and delicate at this point that no one wants to tell me personally that other people are able to have two babies in the time it takes me to try to have one. And fail. Miserably.

That's depressing. My sister couldn't call. My step-mom couldn't call. My dad couldn't call. Everyone has to let me find out from a highly impersonal source that can't cringe while it's alerting me that being an Aunt (twice) may be all I get in this world. So begins another round of conflicting emotions. Put on the smile, say the right words, buy the adorable card, make the time-consuming-but-really-cute-and-necessary-so-no-one-knows-you're-bitter-handmade set of burp cloths and bibs. Do it, because you're a good sister and an even better Auntie.