I am sitting at the edge of a cliff, looking out onto an endless ocean. The waves crash with great ferocity below. There is no discernable direction on which to cast my gaze. Rather, there is but one open and inviting space to reach towards.
You, my child, are wrapped tightly to my chest. Our heart beats bounce off of each other. You are still and I am calm despite the wildness below. In my one hand I have a bow, and in the other, an arrow.
I can see nothing for which to focus my aim, but I lift my arms anyways. Mist forms into droplets on the tip of my nose and drip gently onto the top of your head like the words of a nursery rhyme. As I fold my shoulders back the waves below begin to bend and buckle against the weight of an eternal force.
We are breathing together now.
One final breath and then release. I look down, and you, my child, are gone.
Capturing the Moments of Motherhood
Your warm giggles wakes me from this dream. On these mornings, I make a simpler breakfast, worry less about the laundry piling up in the hall and take extra sugar in my coffee. I am reminded that although “your soul dwells in the house of tomorrow” my hand comforts you in the house of today.
The most impactful choices we make as parents are often the most simple ones we can make. Judgement makes mountains out of mole hills. That sugar you fed your kid before they were one, those dirty clothes you let your kid wear to a birthday party because you didn't have time to do the laundry (you guessed it, I hate doing laundry). These are not the “right or wrong” choices that kept you up at night when imagining yourself as a parent.
Navigating the ocean of parenthood is no easy task. As our children grow we are witness to the complexities of their innate human nature. We also become acutely aware of our own. Meeting basic needs are just the tip of the iceberg as we discover what it means to be a caregiver to the sacred little life that our body intuitively knows how to nurture and grow.
From the moment my body ceased being a vessel and became the mother i believe it is meant to be, I was filled with doubt and unimaginable awe at the task ahead of me. What if I send my children in the wrong direction into adulthood? Will I be the mother to my child that I wanted for myself? What of myself will my child pass onto her children? And society expects me to have a successful career, a loving relationship, and a fun blog on top of it? Hand me a G+T, I might as well call it a day.
Yet, in reality it is often the most trivial choices that send us into a spiral of self doubt and a sense that the world is on our shoulders. Is my baby too cold or too hot? Is this swaddle too tight? Is it too early to leave the house? Talk about tiny dancers bounding around in my head!
But what about those "big" choices we make as mothers? Breastfeeding, how you choose to give birth, babywearing. These are all choices we make as mothers and are seen to be some of the more impactful choices we can make. But they are also equal in their simplicity. They are the choices that keep our arms steady as we prepare to release our children into the world. A deep knowing, from the moment we discover life growing in our womb, of the big choices we will make that will define us as women and mothers. These choices don't always look the same and I truly believe there is no right or wrong choice if a mother is walking a path that is filled with love and caring for her child.
Those simple, small and minor moments that make us who we are as human beings are the same ones that define our mothering strength. Simple is a concept greatly lacking from our world. We tend to over complicate at every turn. But as a mother, the decisions I have made that I feel deeply connected to are the ones that I simply knew supported my capacity to be that stable bow for my child to enter the world through. Carrying my child is a simple choice. Setting out to create a basic necklace to help bond mothers with their babies was equally so.
I have been truly blown away by how Miner Metals has inspired simplicity. But in truth it is because I am inspired by it! I have received so many beautiful pictures of grounded and strong mothers sharing tender moments with their babies through my jewelry. There is also a simple knowing of an infant child that needs to be better understood in our modern world.
Warm cuddles, nurturing milk, gentle movement.
Join the #Minermoments Movement
#Minermoments is a very special campaign I am launching aimed at creating dialogue around how mothers can stay grounded and strong in a modern world obsessed with judgement. Multiple times a week I will share these pictures and stories on my social media accounts.
Not only will these stories capture the profound beauty of a child's fresh fingers grasped around a simple item that anchors them to the ones they love the most, but they will also inspire us to cherish these #minermoments.
To be apart of this movement follow us at @minermocsmetals on Instagram, post a picture of one of you and your child sharing a simple and profound moment together with the hashtag #minermoments. Don't forget to include a few short sentences about what this moment means to you. Each week we will feature a new story on our Facebook and Instagram accounts.
