Returning

Hello, Dear Friends!

It is with joy and excitement that I return to this digital space. Since my last post, the Honey Hive has taken physical shape in an office on Park Avenue in Rochester, NY. There I practice Healing Touch and meet with Birth Doula clients.

Today, Chelse Thompson, the very gifted photographer at Eieio Photography, is featuring They Honey Hive on her blog. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share what I do with her clients and share her beautiful work with mine. The photographs above and below are from my shoot at Eieio Photography. They are two of the many beautiful images she captured.

Thanks, Chelse!

 



Waking Up

Have you ever driven somewhere, reached your destination and then wondered how you got there? The last time I posted on this blog, I was a graduate student, working on my final research project, teaching public speaking, and living in college housing in a small town. I woke up this morning, from a deep sleep and the blurr of the last six months, and it hit me. I live in the city. I have my own apartment. I have what my fellow grad students and I used to call a "real job" and I am blissfully free of paper writing. People keep asking when I am going for my PhD. Most of the time I don't have the heart to answer honestly. Because honestly, the answer is never. There were things about school that I loved and I am and will be forever grateful for what I learned and those who taught me. But what it comes down to, what I've realized, is that college did not bring out my best self and did not fulfill me or give me a deep sense of accomplishment or peace. And isn't that the dream? Isn't that what we want? Something that brings us to life? Something that challenges and inspires us to be our very best?

Sewing Circle

I just read a chapter from Women Communicating in which the authors detail a group of women who came together monthly to talk about their experiences as professors. They called it a sewing circle, not because they broke out the patterns and embroidery, but because they wove together their experiences into a patchwork of understanding. Beautiful. It makes me want a sewing circle.

A reminder

In this arid academic environment, something moves. Light spills over the horizon. Music rumbles up from deep inside the ground. There is still hope and creativity yet to be.

"Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences."

~ A beautiful reminder from Holstee. Those guys know what's up.

The Sun Came Out Today

Not to sound dramatic, but the past few weeks have felt a bit cloudy... in a metaphoric sense. The pressure of finishing my MA continues to grow. And my to-do list seems to increase exponentially each day.

But at this moment, as I sit in the library and occasionally shake my hands to keep them from cramping, the snow stops, a bit of sun glows on the damp air, and a rainbow shimmers in the sky. I am choosing to take this as a sign of God's promise that when this storm is over, He will part the clouds and cast a rainbow over my life.

To Share

Hello my lovely readers!

I've come across a few tidbits recently that I think you might like.


From theyallhateus and Table Tonic

Also from Louise over at Table Tonic: Isak Dinesen (Danish author of Out of Africa) once said: "The cure for anything is salt water; sweat, tears, or the sea."

Ever had a day with all three?

Finally, this beautiful video of a talk by Brene Brown.



Just brilliant.

Sorry. Some of us still want to procreate.

My dear blogger brother-in-law just tweeted this article about our generation's disinterest, and occasional vehement negativity, toward having children. It makes me wonder at what point people starting thinking of individuals and couples with more than two kids (or any kids, in some cases) as irresponsible.

The article cites such great statistics about how children cause unhappiness and conflict in marriages and asserts that the inconveniences of raising children makes abdicating parenthood the intelligent choice. Brian Frazer quotes Laura S. Scott, author of Two Is Enough: A Couple's Guide to Living Childless by Choice, saying "'[a] lot of introverts, thinkers, judgers—these are people who think before they act... they're planners, and they're not the kind of people who can be easily led into a conventional life just because everyone else is doing it.'"

So if I decide to have a child, I am not only reckless and conventional, but also a stupid and undiscerning extrovert? How did we get here? How did we come to see raising a child and building their character as an nuisance instead of a gift?

Apparently having time to visit posh restaurants and tweet every time you blink is more important than sustaining a community or nation. If that isn't narcissism, I don't know what is.

This is not to say that everyone should have children. But please, let me make babies in peace. And for the love of God acknowledge that smart, unconventional planners have kids, too.