Photo credit: Atlantida

She slowly readjusted her kimono sleeves after passing the tea bowl back to me, smiled, then gracefully looked up and subtly signaled with her eyes for me to prepare for a second round of ceremony. 

While I was whisking 3 scoops of matcha in hot water to create the starter tea paste, she nonchalantly started.

"Life begins with a sperm and an egg. 

Yes, the beginning of life is that straightforward. A sperm was strong enough to swim the length of a fallopian tube, penetrate the envelope of a mature egg, and combine its genetic materials with that egg's content. Fertilization happened. A zygote was formed, developed into a fetus inside a uterus, and then born. Life that was initiated in a test tube or a petri dish basically followed similar principle after the fertilized egg was implanted in a uterus. 

Isn't it amazing how such a seemingly simple process can create such complex creatures as human beings? Well, the truth is, the complete process is not so easy.

As the matter of fact, an estimate of 30%-50% of pregnancies are spontaneously aborted due to several reasons. So, even though it may sound simple, a chance at life is not that easy to come by."