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Health & Fitness

Book Review: 'Times Two' by Sea Cliff Residents Kristen Henderson and Sarah Kate Ellis

Two Women in Love, their side-by-side pregnancies, and the happy family they made.

Times Two Two Women in Love, their side-by-side pregnancies, and the happy family they made. Authors Kristen Henderson and Sarah Kate Ellis; Published by Simon & Schuster. 

Reviewed by Roni Jenkins

Funny and poignant, a true modern family. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

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Kristen Henderson is a Glen Cove High School Class of 1988 graduate and currently lives in Sea Cliff with her partner, Sarah Kate Ellis. Written in a she said/ she said format, Times Two is about two women — seemingly opposites: one the preppy vice-president of marketing for Real Simple magazine, the other a founding member, songwriter, and bass guitarist of the popular all-female rock band Antigone Rising — falling in love and wanting to raise a family together.

The book documents their true stories of each of them coming to the realization in college that they were lesbians and their individual self-awareness and fears of coming out to family, friends, co-workers, sorority sisters and their fear of the reaction they might receive. They both have an incredible network of supportive friends and family, without which, it would have been next to impossible to embark on the journey they were about to go through.

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It didn’t take long for them to fall madly in love with each other and realize that they wanted to begin a family together. Sarah, the slightly younger of the two, would be the one to get pregnant while Kristen worked on her band’s new CD. What followed was months of infertility, drug treatments, miscarriages, and heartbreak – something any female who ever had a child or is trying to start a family can relate to. Your heart breaks for them as they try and try and there are many times I felt my eyes well up with tears. A chapter later, reading about their do-it-yourself “turkey baster” method to getting pregnant, I found myself laughing out loud.

That determination that made them a success in their careers was also a factor in their quest to have a family. One of them was going to have a baby. Not taking any chances, they agreed that it would be beneficial for Kristen to also try getting pregnant, even while Sarah was still undergoing fertility treatments; really, what were the chances of them both getting pregnant at the same time?

Two growing bellies, cravings, ailments and opposite opinions on many things made for some stressful times during their simultaneous nine months. From epidurals to finding out the babies’ genders, they seemed to have an opposite opinion on just about everything. Having had three kids, I found myself saying out loud “I totally agree with…” and “that happened to me too!” while reading. In addition to the fact that they were physically changing, they had no idea mentally how to prepare for the impending arrival of two babies while each would be recovering from delivery. Luckily they were both successful or the finances alone would not have made any of their dreams possible. Reading about how much money it cost them to just try to get pregnant is astonishing. It makes you really sad for people who don’t have the means to pursue their dreams of having a family. And it’s particularly financially challenging when it involves a same sex-couple who can’t just procreate the “birds-and-the bees” way.

Once the babies are born it is really sweet to read about their “twins,” their struggles being working moms, and the challenges regarding adoption and religion. Anyone who has ever considered starting a family or has a family – gay or not – should read the story these two women wrote about their unconditional love for each other and their quest to become a recognized “legal” family.

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Sarah and Kristen will be doing a few book signing in-store appearances in the coming weeks. Antigone Rising will also be performing a short acoustic set at all three of the following events:

Saturday – May 7, 2011
Special Day Before Mother’s Day In-Store Appearance
Forest Value Books
182 Birch Hill Road
Locust Valley, NY 11560 (New location, formerly in Glen Cove)
(516) 759-1489
2-4 p.m. (short acoustic AR performance included)

Wednesday – May 11, 2011
The Book Revue
313 New York Ave.
Huntington, NY 11743
(631) 271-1442
7 p.m. (short acoustic AR performance included)

Wednesday – June 1, 2011

RJ Julia

768 Boston Post Rd.
Madison, CT 06443
203-245-3959
7 p.m. (short acoustic AR performance included)


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