Woah. My dad gets it!

For a while, if DH or I brought up anything about us having trouble getting pregnant, dad would make jokes. "Its easy, take the TV out of the bed room." and other such witty *eye roll* sayings.
Lately he seems to get it. This weekend he was pestering me about why I hadnt called my mother to tell her we left to get away from the storm, and I told him that I couldnt stand talking to her because everytime I do she says something to make me mad.
I also told him that I was still mad at her over the last time I saw her over the summer. Some how we got on the subject of the increased rates of infertility and she said that she believes that infertility is caused by the Earth knowing that it is over populated and that it is spreading "diseases" to fix the problem. She also said that infertile women just needed to accept that they couldnt have kids and that it was for the good of the planet.
When I told dad what she said I think his jaw almost hit the ground, and I am still so mad over it that it took a lot to keep from crying. After I went to bed that night, DH and dad stayed up talking and DH said that he was really upset over my mother saying that to me. Really upset.

Then we went out to dinner in San Antonio at Mi Tierra and I was getting frustrated because it seriously seemed like every woman between the ages of 15 and 40 were pregnant but me. I thought it was just me being my usual bitter, infertile self seeing baby bellies left and right, but then dad suddenly said "Geez! What's with the water in this town?? There are pregnant women everywhere!" I just looked at my plate and muttered "Yeah, tell me about it." and dad just apologized like crazy. He said he was so sorry and that it was a really thoughtless thing to mention.

I almost started crying. Im so used to my friends and family just brushing over the topic or trying to "help" by telling me to relax or get drunk or have sex standing up or whatever stupid thing they were doing when they got pregnant that I didnt know hoe to react to my dad being sensitive about it.

I think my step mom has a lot to do with it. My step sister kind of went through this. I didnt know just how much she went through til recently. All I ever knew was that she found out that she couldnt have kids. That even though she was only 25 or so, she had waited too long; which probably spearheaded my desperate desire to be a mom before the age of 23 and my intense feeling of failure at being almost 26 and still childless. My (step)mom was my (step)sister's shoulder to cry on through all of that so my (step) mom saw the pain it causes in her other daughter and now Im going through it too. I get the feeling that she probably had a talk (or a few talks) with dad about it. But dad doesnt completely avoid the topic, which sometimes makes you feel like just as much of an outcast as when people brush aside your feelings, but he said things about it and really seemed to understand that it is intensely painful.

Im kind of in shock. Its a weird feeling. My family gets it. Wow. Its indescribable.