Little Moment in the Manic Rush

We just had a crazy, wild, we're-certifiably-insane kind of high speed visit to Michigan over the weekend. Baby arriving in the middle of the year will mean that we would have had a rather long time between visits with our parents this year. Not quite winter to winter but close. SO, we decided to do the ridiculous and improbable and drive madly back over the course of a weekend, across 14 hours of roads with the boosting of a four day weekend and have a quick hello.

Grandpa, helping zip up Dee's coat before we leave.

A little glance at Mom.

And a little smack for Grandpa. A well-loved man.

Sometimes you have to do crazy things. And sometimes you don't have to but it sure can be fun! I had to share my favorite photographic moment of the weekend, to share a little of the spontaneous fun. Family is a good deal.

My First Birth

Had one of the most fantastically inspiring nights of my life last night. Nutmeg and Carpenter Man's sweet second baby was ushered into the world and I had the great honor of attending the birth (can words express what kind of a friend-gift that is???? I think not.)  at the side of the midwife who delivered most of own children. I cannot even describe to you all the sheer, scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs feeling of peak experience I felt walking out into the crisp, cold February air re-playing the visual in my mind's eye of Baby's placid, buttermilk-velvet profile, slipping into his mother's waiting arms and then being cradled to her face for first kisses.

Life is peppered with a few crystal moments and I knew--standing there on the curb, helping my mentor load her birthing supplies back into her trunk and then hugging her under the golden halo of the streetlights---that I had lived one of those great times. A time that will always be hung in space as significant.

So, to better remember, there on the sidewalk at 1:45AM, I pulled out my camera, squeezed my cheek against hers and held it out and snapped a memory. A little salute to one of my heroes.

So, here's to you, Martha, I feel so blessed to have knelt at the side of a laboring mother, next to you and to have peered over your shoulder as you worked and helped you lug your bags out to the car. I know that yours are big shoes, and I hope someday I'll be able to keep a pair on as I slosh down the road of midwifery. You're super inspiring.

Poetry Friday: A Noun List

Today I am sharing a poem I wrote five years ago...the year I was 25. This poem is sort of a word game I challenged myself to. I decided to have a go at writing something personal and slightly vulnerable that included the top 25 most common nouns in the English language. All the nouns are in capitals.

I've included a few shots of my circa 2005-6 for your enjoyment, give you a little image in your mind of the "me" that is speaking.

My Uncommon Experience

I have found my PLACE in the spiral of TIME
My niche between WOMAN and CHILD
I am hovering in this 25th YEAR
Breathing in my fully fragrant LIFE
I savor the WAY I fit snugly with this MAN,
Our love a snapping, tender THING
But just broken-in enough to leave a
PERSON feeling warmed at the sight of us.
I cherish the pizzazz of youth under the
GOVERNMENT of a new womanly knowledge.
I love this DAY when I cup them both in my HAND.
And, I am pausing here, at this comfortable POINT,
Young enough to still have a robust NUMBER of elders
But old enough to have developed a mothering EYE,
Respect, keeping COMPANY with
A cozy amount of irresponsibility.
I am suspending animation for just this WEEK,
Just long enough to WORK this GROUP of moments
Into that fat CASE of files marked “Great Feelings,”
I will chew slowly, nourished on the delicacy
That is this minute PART of my life in the
WORLD distilled into a fleeting seasonal dish.
The great PROBLEM is: The FACT of Time's moving on.

If you would like to see more Poetry Friday participant posts, head on over to Random Noodling for the full list.