Hello First name / Beautiful Reader
I wasn’t sure if I was going to write anything this week. Honestly, I’m still a little shaken.
Over the weekend, the IVF clinic I went to and the one where I got pregnant was bombed. Yes, bombed.
It happened early Saturday morning in Palm Springs, CA. A man drove to the American Reproductive Center and detonated explosives in two of the buildings. This was the place where I had ultrasounds, blood draws, and spent many hopeful, terrifying hours during my fertility journey. I know the doctor and nurses who work there. I walked those halls.
Thankfully, the clinic was closed at the time, and none of the staff were hurt. Only the man who set the bombs died in the explosion. According to reports, he targeted the clinic because he wanted to destroy the embryos stored there. But the embryos were kept in a separate building he didn’t know about. That building—and the embryos—survived.
I feel a mix of emotions I’m still trying to name.
Shock. Rage. Grief.
Gratitude that no innocent lives were lost. And deep, deep sadness for what this act represents.
IVF is already an emotional, often painful process. It’s personal and private and deeply vulnerable. For someone to target a place that exists to help people build families... it’s hard to put into words. And yet here we are.
I’m still processing what it means to have gone through something so intimate in a place that’s now connected to violence. I’m thinking of the people still cycling there, the staff who returned to work, and the families who were waiting and hoping, just like I once did.
There’s a strange feeling when your real life suddenly collides with the kind of stories I write. As Charlotte Byrd and Kate Gable, I’ve written about crime, loss, and unexpected tragedies. But fiction gives you a sense of control. Real life doesn’t.
And yet, as I’ve said before in these newsletters, I believe in telling the truth, even when it’s hard. Maybe especially when it’s hard.
So that’s the truth this week. I’m okay, but also not entirely okay. And I know I’m not alone in that.
If this news brings up strong feelings for you, whether you’ve been through IVF, know someone who has, or are just deeply shaken by what happened, I see you. And I’m holding space for whatever you’re carrying.
I’ll be back soon with lighter updates and writing news. But this week, I just wanted to show up honestly.
With care,
Charlotte
