I’m at the beach where I’ve been lucky enough to go for the
past three years, thanks to Maggie May Etheridge. No, not through her dollars
or mad hook-ups, but for pointing me to a blog where I eventually met the
blogger’s sister and then her friends and then, well, aren’t we all in this
crazy thing together in our little blog-land? I’ve known some of you for longer
than I’ve known very close friends in my day to day life.
Anyway. It’s become a tradition, and very much of a step-out
of my real life since I meet friends that are in different states as we
converge on this place. My friend Denise is generous beyond belief, and none of
this would be possible without her. She grew up coming to this beach in Avalon
New Jersey, and has passed this along to us and now it’s a part of our own
histories and in our bones in the same way. Children have grown up here, and they’re
not the only ones. Avalon has become a safe place; a place where we can lay it all on the line. Our catch-up’s often cut close to the bone, and that’s taken some getting used to on my part. Now I come with the expectation that I’ll be asked “to the core” questions within minutes and as the week goes on and beach yoga is done and the conversations will deepen.
We have a yogi who comes to do beach yoga in the mornings,
and yesterday she mentioned that she had an astrologist friend and the next
thing I know I’m texting my date and time of birth and then this morning, the
three of us gathered on the bed while a star chart is projected on the wall.
Alexander stated “so everyone here is family, correct?” None of us are family
except chosen and we gave permission to “go deep.” He began with me, and I was
basically engaged only on a “this is interesting” level. I do but I don’t
believe in this kind of thing. The yoga instructor doesn't really know me at all -I am sporadic at best in my yoga attendance. So I assumed that if he were able to peg me, it would be genuine and nothing that she could have "fed" him.
He nailed it. He pinned me against the wall with my
character and past, and proceeded to the do the same with the rest of us. My star chart reflected that my parents were very loving when I came into the world. But that something happened in my third year, a financial crisis, and they were driven apart. I'm not sure what this was, but they were divorced by the time I was five. There were several other things he stated about my personality, my work demeanor, my ...well, my core.It was casual, and we all felt free to ask the hard things.
Having a baby has been a thing for me for so many years. I’ve
always wanted to mother and nurture and I do on a daily basis for the people
(little, big and furry) in my life. I’m 34. 34 is young! Yes, I know this. But
I have been building with the reality that if I’m going to go down this road of
parenthood, it’s time to think about it. Adoption? Birth? Single parenting, or
is there a spouse around the corner? Should I wait for that? Let go and let
God? WWJD? And here comes the spiral.
On the bed, in the safe space, I wanted to ask. I wasn’t
sure I wanted to know the answer. But then Alexander said - unprovoked - that beginning
last summer, a deep deep aura of fertility was surrounding me. Beginning June/July and it was still very strong.
There’s a soul hovering.
I, stunned, said – yes, I can feel it. He said very seriously – of course
you can. It is there. There’s free will involved, which he kept emphasizing. I
said should I do this now? He demurred, and said that was something he could
explore with me further if we wanted to go down that road. But he saw a partner
for me in the future. I asked when? He got quiet and said “December 2016; no,
Summer 2017.” And nodded a few times and I didn’t push this more. I had enough.
I don’t know what I believe sometimes.
But I do know that several weeks ago, I heard on the radio
that someone had mentioned that she’d wished for her daughter her whole life.
And that once she’d asked her daughter how she got to be her little girl. The
little girl answered “I heard you call for me and I came to you.” Since then, I’ve
noticed myself whispering…'baby girl, baby girl' and projecting this into the universe very quietly, and almost without notice by me. Two nights ago, I stood at the beach, looked into the water and whispered “baby girl...baby girl..." into the swirling wind.
We had a late afternoon of processing, napping and thinking. The three of us went to yoga tonight and in hour two, I was feeling almost transcendent and I thought about the day. I said in my mind, to the soul hovering….baby, Mommy will get you here. Our lives, they will be extraordinary. I’ll see you soon.
I have no idea how and when and I ... I don't feel like I have to know. For the first time in a very long time. In my whole life?
This has certainly been a Monday. I feel very at peace.
