For some people, family comes easily. They meet, fall in love (or fall in like… whatevs), do the deed, wait a few months, then pop out a baby.
For others, it’s more complicated. These are couples with fertility issues, same sex couples, single women (and I’m sure men, too) who want babies, yet haven’t found a partner to procreate with.
For those people, too, there is an unknown. A lack of information. The possible feeling of isolation and confusion as you step into this process that is more complicated than you and me and a baby makes three.
When I was pregnant and planning a home birth I took solace in reading home birth story after home birth story. It helped me to know that there were so many others making the same journey as I was. It gave me strength and helped quell my fears. Information is powerful. Knowing that someone has navigated a similar path to you can do more than someone just telling you that it will be fine, that everything is going to work out. Everyone wants to know that they are not alone. At the same time, I read non home birth stories too. I believe it’s important to be able to hear stories of experiences that are different from your own so that you can feel empathy, understand differences, and grow as a person. Blogging is a great vehicle for delivering information and telling stories. So are documentaries.
Our friend Rick is making a documentary called Between Friends and Family about his journey as a known sperm donor for a same sex couple with whom he is friends. As stated on the film website, “In 2008, Mel and Cary asked their neighbor, Rick to help them start a family. They planned to share the birth mom role and eventually have two children, and they were looking for someone willing to be a donor for both pregnancies. Rick agreed and began documenting their evolving relationship, a project that three years later has become a personal documentary that explores boundaries and the gray areas Between Friends and Family.”
I’m so excited about this film and cannot wait to watch and learn. But documentaries, unlike a free blog, cost money. This is where we all come in. There is a great website called kickstarter.com. Basically, it is a platform for people to pledge money to help to fund a project. It helps to get projects off the ground without having to sell rights, sign deals, and be creatively under someone’s thumb. It’s brilliant. I’ve seen it used to raise money for various recording projects with great success.
Rick is using kickstarter to raise money to complete his amazing documentary. The deal with kickstarter is that no money changes hands until the fundraising goal is met. That way the creator has enough money to complete the project, and pledgers are able to see a final result. Please take a minute to check out his page. There are giving opportunities from $1 up, and any little bit helps. There are great incentives to give as well. If you pledge $25 to the project, you are ensured a DVD copy of the film. So, really, it’s just like pre-paying for the DVD. Awesome.
Please click here for the Kickstarter page and check it out, support if you can. You can also like the film’s Facebook Page for up to date information on the project. Even sharing the page with others via your own social networking avenues can help. Thank you!
Photo via www.betweenfriendsandfamilymovie.com
lazy to living 