If you know me, you know I'm pretty open about my story, but asking for help is still not easy for me. When I was five or six years old, I was molested by a family friend while my dad was dying from cancer. Years later, after losing my father, I trusted a cousin enough to tell him what had happened to me. Shortly after, my grandfather, another father figure in my life, passed away, that same cousin sexually abused me. For years, I didn't realize how much those experiences had shaped my life. I didn't date, and I avoided conversations about marriage and children. It wasn't until I was 32 that I understood how deeply my trauma had affected my ability to feel safe in relationships and intimacy. Since then, I've put in a lot of work to heal through therapy, a trauma workshop, a support group, and eventually reporting my abusers. Somewhere along the way, something changed: I started imagining myself as a mom. Now, at 37, I sometimes feel like I got a late start in life. I can't get those years back, and my biological clock didn't stop while I was healing. So, I've decided to freeze my eggs. I've met with a fertility specialist and started preparing for the process. I'm applying for grants and exploring my insurance benefits, but the costs of medications, monitoring, retrieval, freezing, and storage can add up quickly. I'm not trying to rush into motherhood. I want the opportunity to have a child when the time and the person are right, not because my age forced me to make that decision before I was ready. Your support would help give me something incredibly valuable: time and the chance to make room for the family I hope to have someday. At the end of the day, I'm still a girl with hopes and dreams.