Hometown Love + Climate Change + Grandma's 10 Babies
Some people truly love where they live, and they celebrate it every day. When I lived in southern California's Cardiff-by-the-Sea, daily I'd overhear cafe conversations between friends eating acai bowls that went something like this: "Oh my god I can't wait to go surfing today. We live in paradise!"
Idaho's Teton Valley, Ojai, Hanalei, San Francisco or Rio de Janeiro... How do you feel about your current hometown?
Plenty of people despise where they live; they can't wait to get out. And many reside somewhere in between, neither enthralled nor disgusted.
Wherever we live, we are happier when we appreciate and enjoy it, rather than complaining and focusing on how we oh-so-wish we were somewhere else. Even if we're moving next week!
Got a pen? One way to be more mindful and happy is to write down what you enjoy about where you live.
After three years living in southern Sonoma County's Petaluma, California, this place finally feels like home. Here are my Top Five reasons why...
#1 Ideal weather + clean air. Even on the few days when it's in the low 90s, by 6PM you're wearing a shawl. Fresh, clean ocean air that's among the cleanest on the continent, blows in through our windows every night. Dreamy.
#2 Mature driving. About 95% of the time, drivers stop far back, and patiently, for pedestrians. This is such a sign of cultural maturity, it makes me feel safe walking downtown with my child, and I love it.
#3 Beaches. In the morning if my daughter says, "Let's go to the beach!" we can go spend the morning watching dolphins from the sand, or, in migration months, even whales.
#4 Cultural vitality. It's brimming with bright, engaged, creative, internationally oriented people who keep me on my toes!
#5 Child honoring. There are lots of ways this shows up. Often when I'm walking downtown with my 3-year-old daughter, if we approach someone smoking a cigarette, they'll deliberately move away or temporarily put out the cigarette out of respect for the child. Restaurants are friendly with children -- and that's good, as this place is full of babies and kids!
Every place on Earth is worth celebrating. What's great about where you live now? Share it with me if you'd like!
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is at it again, using his fame and fortune to do great things. This time he's produced a movie on Climate Change. Yep, the big real deal that's not getting 1/100th of the attention it deserves on a national level.
AHEM, this planet is our life support system. And humanity's conscience is closely tied to how it's treated.
Who caught the free screening of it last night at the opening of the Bioneers Conference? Watch the trailer here.
My grandma Angelina birthed 10 babies, seven at home in Puerto Rico and three in NYC's Morrissania Hospital.
Two generations later, I gave birth to one. And though my numbers pale in comparison, I have something in common with her: homebirth!
It's one of the greatest fortunes of my life to have given birth at home. Hospital, home, taxi cab en route to the hospital... all birth is a miracle.
That's my Abuela Angelina with my older brother Joe in the early 1970s. She was 14 when she birthed her first child, and I was 38 when I birthed mine. How times have changed...
Fortunately, I was surrounded by empowering friends and mentors who reminded me during pregnancy, "Your body was made for this!" And our town had a homebirth midwife we knew who was experienced and wonderful. (There she is below, supporting a homebirth.)
Let's not take this for granted. Homebirth midwives aren't everywhere, or inevitable. For many women this isn't an option where they live.
This month I interviewed our homebirth midwife, Dena Moes RN, to learn more about the intense challenges she faced in recent years. She's not alone.
My article With Woman is in the Oct/Nov issue of Holistic Parenting Magazine, and on their blog. For those passionate about women's choice to give birth wherever the ____ we want to, keep reading.