How do I begin? This has been a crazy and beautiful summer. We spent 4 weeks in Europe, came home, then was off to Maui for 8 days to see my ailing father. Arno got established in El Paso while I took a short and stressful jaunt to see my father. He's not doing well and I wanted to see him before he declined any further. That is a long heart wrenching story though in itself, and perhaps I will find the courage later on to tell it. I feel like if I begin, the grief of it all will overwhelm.
As for now my focus has turned to establishing our life in El Paso and my Orientation at Maternidad la Luz (I begin tomorrow). My fears that EL Paso would be a city vacant of nature were completely unfounded. We found a lovely southwest style house in the Upper Valley on the outskirts of the city. There is no beach or ocean but mountains surround and awe us, the rio grand is 2 blocks away, Our backyard is greener, the trees are larger than our semi-dessert San Diego.
It is quite lovely if you wear lots of mosquito repellent and don't go out in the middle of the day. Yes- the mosquitos are outrageous here and the sun unrelenting. It sounds a little mad that we are aproaching vampire status but we are adapting. I think that this time of year is the most difficult weather wise. I could spent quite a bit of time writing out a list to compare SD to EP but I think it might be rather tedious-good or bad, it is what it is and I am enjoying the exploration of that.
The boys are adapting as well, we found a great Montessori nearby and I can already see Kai's pride in his accomplishments growing. Montessori promotes independence and responsibility, I can see it already that he is taking well to it all. He began to push in our chairs for us after dinner last night and just the other day he sat down and created his own art project without help or prompting. That seems small but it is quite a big deal for him. Myles began two days ago and had a little tougher time, we shall see how he adapts.
Tomorrow-yes tomorrow!!! So much work has gone into this moment of tomorrow, it is just that isn't it? A moment followed by another and another. It does feel like that, like a cumulation of many small things. I am waiting for this explosion of accumulated energy but I don't think it will happen. The first meeting of these 12 aspiring midwives will, I think, be phenomenal but it will be just a moment, then it will pass.
Before I left one of the wisest pieces of advice that I received was "Be mindful of the process". I think that will be the secret to passing throught this " laborinth". I will be taking things one at a time, one breath, one surge, one experience at a time. Some of it will bounce off of me, some of it will sink gently in. I am sure there will be moments of trauma, enlightenment, profound friendship, great joy, supreme sadness and all those other things that go along with Birth and Life.
Any threshold crossing contains all of these elements don't they?
www.maternidadlaluz.com
