Monthly chai date

After absorbing all that is right in the world when there is chai involved, I would check in with how you are doing. What is the latest going on in your world of being a woman, or learning about women, or supporting women? What challenges have come your way recently, and are you feeling strong in your responses to them? What are you missing in your life right now, and how are you going to integrate it? How are you welcoming blossoming trees and abundant sunshine into your work in the outside world, and what is your favorite part of that?With hands warmed, I would mention how fun it was to talk with Victoria Carlson, initiator of the website Future Midwives of America, and be interviewed about my path before, into, and within midwifery. I think what gets midwives into the profession is always fascinating, and have enjoyed listening to the other interviews on her site. Check out her website for more information on her project!If we were having chai together, I would share my excitement and trepidation over learning I will have an integration (clinical) midwifery student in January 2014. Having some midwife students (graduating this coming weekend - congrats, ladies!) over on Sunday night was a really great reminder of what is positive and negative about the student-preceptor relationship. I look forward to the adventures this will bring next year! And, watching the documentary Birth Story was such a healthy reminder about the beauty and process of normal birth, including full videos of a shoulder dystocia remedied by the Gaskin maneuver and a complete breech birth!Over chai, I'd share how it feels to be friends with those who expand their families in all ways, shapes, and forms. Adoption, fertility treatments, surprise siblings, foster care... I am awed by the beauty of individuals who purposefully seek to incorporate children into their life plan, how difficult that can be at times, and the patience with which they dedicate their work and compassion into raising new people to be among us in our lives.If we were having chai together, I would barely be able to contain my excitement for my vacation this week. EC and I leave on Friday morning to spend a few glorious days on the beach in Puerta Vallarta. I plan to do a whole lot of sunglass-wearing, umbrella-cocktail-drinking, salt-water-swimming, and pure relaxing for all of those days. This is my first official vacation since starting work as a midwife, and I am really looking forward to it! Pictures are likely to make their way into this venue somehow, someway.At this point, likely licking the mug for my final dredges of caffeine, I would smile with you, ensure that we had both laughed before parting ways, and required a rescheduling of this date for next month. It's a struggle in busy lives to ensure the ones closest to us are regularly seen, incorporated, and informed of the love we have for them. Please know that for all of you who work to support women, I appreciate you and all of the effort that you put forward, especially when you feel particularly out of that effort for whatever reason. I will send you positive and uplifting energy from under my umbrella in the sun over the weekend!