Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Midwife and The Someday Doula

Headband: from the grocery store, $3 for 6-pack
Scarf: TJ-Maxx, $10
Blouse: Gap, $5
T-shirt: Hanes, $5 for 3-pack
Vest: secondhand Moda International, $6 from consignment shop
Jeans: gift
Boots: secondhand, $8 from thrift store

A funny thing has been happening to me lately. There's this woman named Briana Blackwelder whom I don't know and have never met. She passed away on Saturday, and inexplicably, the universe has been directing all of my thoughts toward her. No less than five blogs I read, representing five people I know, have featured posts about Briana and paid tribute to her. She was evidently this amazing woman, a Salt Lake City midwife, and I'm simultaneously really sad that I missed the chance to know her in this life AND happy to have been "introduced" to her at all.

Some links:
tribute video by David Perry
interview with Briana Blackwelder, produced by Kate and Neil
post at Our Mother's Keeper, featuring a beautiful poem written to remember Briana


I believe in meaningful coincidences. Most of what I've happened to learn about Briana is related to her calling as a midwife. She clearly cared so deeply about women, particularly pregnant and laboring women, and she dedicated much of her love and energy to helping women have positive birth experiences. I'm learning all this just as I've re-committed myself to becoming a certified doula (essentially a support person for women in labor), and the books I'm reading for that purpose just arrived this week. It's quite special and inspiring to have this example in Briana, this unexpected example of true passion and love. I am certain that all of her beloved ones would find it as no surprise that she's still teaching and still magnifying her calling, from that beautiful place where she must surely be.

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