Catching Life

Writing day, but this is the first I've gotten to the computer this morning. Fooey had her major dental appointment this morning, so that took priority. She was fully conscious during the surgery, but on nitrous oxide ("magic nose" as the dentist calls it) and additionally on a drug that kinda makes her look and act a bit drunk. Amazingly, the dentist (Super Dentist, as I shall forevermore call him) drilled and filled three cavities, including between her two front teeth, and shaved off an additional three more cavities, all in one go. So she's taken care of. For now. Heaven knows, we are flossing and brushing and treating juice like a rare treat these days ("Juice!!!" the kids squeal with delight when it is offered at a birthday party; the way other children might scream, "Candy!" or "Cake!"), but there are hard teeth and there are soft teeth, and it's looking like my babies have the soft ones. Something tells me this won't be Fooey's last"magic nose" experience. It was quite trippy trying to imagine the experience through her eyes, lying in that chair, breathing nitrous oxide into her innocent lungs, sunglasses on, in a dental office that looks like it's perfectly preserved from the 1960s, while Super Dentist and his assistant spoke soothingly of "pink and yellow sugar bugs" being "washed away." (Drilled away). I was starting to see pink and yellow sugar bugs. It wasn't a bad sensation, actually.

I've been meaning to blog all weekend and it's already Monday. These were some of the topics in mind. Carrot cookies: really good. Taking four children ages three to seven to the musical theatre (Annie) for a 7pm show: surprisingly fun. Midwifery: lots of Big Thoughts. In fact, that's where I'd like to go in today's blog.

On Friday evening, I attended the Eby Lecture at Conrad Grebel College, which this year was given by Marlene Epp, a Mennonite historian. The place was packed out with the local Mennonite crowd. It is impossible to show up at something like this and not a) recognize 99% of the audience, b) be known by name by at least 33% whose names you do not, in turn, remember, and c) actually turn out to be related to 5% of those in attendance. (Note: All figures are wild estimates). The subject was Canadian Mennonite women who were midwives/healers. I love this kind of history, largely story-telling, using oral sources, diaries, notes. I loved how she integrated and contextualized the Mennonite story into and within the larger story of immigrant Canada. Proof that I would make a lousy historian, what jumped out at me instantly was the source of great fiction this history could make.

Some of you may know that I harbour distant fantasies about becoming a midwife myself. Likely from the moment I saw my own sister born at home (I was twelve and a half), the profession has seemed to me almost magical, and certainly powerful: guiding a woman through gestation to delivery, being present and receiving new life. It's the only alternate career path I've been able to imagine for myself; yet I'm excruciatingly aware that my interest in midwifery is more idealistic than practical. It seems like the kind of profession one should feel "called" to (though that may be more of my idealism talking). Children and grandchildren of these midwives recalled holiday celebrations broken by the mother or grandmother grabbing up her brown bag and heading out on a mission of mercy. Midwives also acted, in some cases, as naturopaths, chiropractors, bone-setters, healers, and undertakers. Because, of course, tied up so closely with birth is death; at least, it was for most of human history, and still is in many places on earth. The responsibility seems vast. I feel myself torn between wanting to discover whether my own hands and mind could care for women and babies in this way; and being pretty darn sure that pursuing that course would bury my ambitions to continue writing fiction. Not to mention limit my time with these four small children I've produced who still need constant care.

I figure on four years of grace till CJ starts kindergarden. In some ways, it doesn't seem like much time, yet when thinking over the changes in our lives these past four years there are almost too many to integrate and understand. We just are where we are. I like planning ahead. But I like staying flexible and open.

Four years ago, I was just about to get pregnant with our third child. Four years ago, Kevin was travelling long distances, regularly, and working for someone else's company. Four years ago, my parents were living in the same house they'd lived in since 1991. They were still married to each other. Kevin's dad was still alive. Four years ago, our kids had two sets of intact grandparents. Though we could hope for more kids, and hope for Kevin to change his job, we really couldn't predict or control many of the events that occurred alongside those others. So it is. I just finished reading Elizabeth Hay's Late Nights on Air, and there's a line that's stuck in my mind. (I'm paraphrasing). One character says that some people believe everything is all about timing; some people believe everything is all about luck; and she believes everything is fragile. Life is fragile.

I believe that, yes, everything is fragile, connections and relationships are fragile; in some ways. In other ways, everything is damned tenacious. Connections and relationships stick and tangle and surprise us and hold us and remain. Even if only in memory.

Life is fascinating, isn't it? And that's why I can't figure out whether I want to be catching it, literally, or catching it in this other way: on the page.

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