I mention this on my other “About” pages, too, but this blog has been a long time coming. I’ve enjoyed writing ever since I was little and, yes, dream of one day becoming a published author. As blogs started to become more and more popular, I started thinking more and more seriously about trying it out for myself.
For several years I thought about launching a blog that focused on infertility support and awareness. I had a name picked out and everything: Gratitude Schmattitude. I thought it was funny. I wanted a place to both vent my frustrations at not being able to accomplish the most “natural” of womanly gifts and a place I could try to focus on the positive things in my life to distract myself from the heartaches. Not a bad idea, right?! Of course, I’m me–a chronic perfectionist and procrastinator–so I never got around to actually putting my plans into action.
After I conceived and then delivered my boys, though, I got the feeling over and over again that this is the time I should start my blog. Once again, I procrastinated and stressed about trying to make the “perfect” blog…and time kept ticking by. Luckily, I’ve read several books over the past several years focusing on how perfectionism isn’t the healthiest of lifestyle habits. I knew that before, too, but reading these books cemented it in my brain and gave me the push I needed to take the plunge and launch this blog.
I picked a date to launch, and now I’m busily, crazily typing away in preparation for the launch TOMORROW! Will my blog be perfect by then? Definitely not. Will it ever be perfect? No. Will there be so many things I wish I’d done better–including starting earlier? Absolutely. BUT…my blog will finally actually be up and running. I’m a recovering perfectionist and procrastinator, and this is my therapy.
A big part of this blog still contains the heart of my original blog niche: gratitude through trials. I’ve never had more to be grateful for. At the same time, though, my family and I keep encountering things that remind us that life is full of difficulties. My hope is that this blog can be a place people can come to know that they’re not alone but also find encouragement to focus on life’s tender mercies and to “pay it forward”.
That’s where the name of this blog comes in. Mercy Rose was actually one of the names we had picked out for if we’d had a baby girl. Like all of our potential baby names, I’d had it picked out for years before getting pregnant. After years of struggling with infertility, I thought that if I ever was lucky enough to have a baby girl, I wanted part of her name to reflect how grateful I was for that blessing. I wanted something semi-religious–but not too much so. I’ve always liked names that walk the line between being classic but not too common. Therefore, I came up with the name Mercy (short for Mercedes) Rose.
Obviously, we had two boys, negating the need for a girl’s name. When I started to seriously think about launching this blog this year, I couldn’t let go of the idea that it should be called Mercy Rose. We have been blessed beyond comprehension, shown countless mercies. And roses have always had a soft place in my heart. My grandma, who died of skin cancer when I was really young, used to paint beautiful roses. Between the connection with my grandma and the fact that one of my favorite movies is Titanic (laugh all you want–I don’t care!), “Rose” just had to follow “Mercy”. If Josh and I ever happen to have a girl, maybe we’ll use the name still. In the meantime, however, it’s the name of my newest “baby”.
There are truly tender mercies every single day. I like to imagine that each time we receive one, it’s like the universe is handing us a big, beautiful rose. As you know, every rose has its thorn, but I prefer to focus on the blossoms. A blog by any other name might have felt as sweet, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it.