Catch up Friday

I've been wanting to post something, many things, all this past week but have not had the time. Not that things have been incredibly busy, but life has just been in the way in a really benign way.

The Hula Girl. Last week I was able to sit in on my daughter's hip hop dance class. All of the parents are invited to watch the class once a month. I got all anthropological in there as I watched a bunch of girls, ages 7-10, learn to walk with attitude and swivel their hips in this very tough, hip way. It was lovely really. You could tell they were not as freed up as they would normally be because they were being watched by parents and siblings. My daughter said as much afterward.
You might think I'm nuts writing that, but nothing they did was sexual or "too old" for them. They looked strong and feisty and they were learning how to use parts of their bodies that we just don't use in the western world. I'm always amazed at births when we encourage women to swivel their hips to help turn or drop a baby and women just look at you with this huge disconnect. HOW do I do THAT?
Like you're asking them to wave a phantom limb. We're so damn stiff in the hips. We never squat, sit on the floor, or shake our junk often enough. It's just not proper, right?

Well I was proud to see my daughter learning to swivel and just BE in her body, finding the beat in the air and letting her body take over. You could see it happening. It was very cool. That's what dancing should be about. And birth. And life, for that matter. Find your beat and swivel with a fierce smile on your face.


In other news, we finally got The Birth Project, Issue 4 to the printers (a few days late). As always, we're happy with it and proud. They should be ready for mailing Monday if all goes well.

G came home from England on Wednesday evening. I was so happy to see him. I was shocked by how much I missed him. It didn't help that I was gearing up for ovulation during that time, but I really missed him. I felt very restless at night when the kids were in bed. Part of me felt like a rebellious teenager with no car or money on a Saturday night; the other part felt like depressed single mother. I normally think of myself as very independent from what G does. My career, hobbies and friends do not usually include him (because almost everything involves birthwork).
But damn, I missed him. I just wanted to lay in bed together and smell his neck and talk about what we've been doing the past 5 days. Crazy.


There was an older midwife on NPR's The Story last night. I missed it, but intend on listening to it in their archives. Supposed to be very good, so check it out at
www.thestory.org under archives.
She runs this birth center


S is staying the night with a friend from school tonight, which leaves little E home with us. What to do, what to do tonight and this weekend?