How I welcome in February
Some music that relaxes me and a reminder so we can make fun messes together.
On this day eleven years ago, my favourite kid popped out just as happy as he is in these pictures.
However, my midwives were only this happy after they could finally turn off the playlist I made for his birth.
You see, I never got around to actually finishing my calm & relaxing playlist.
I got distracted shortly after I started to make one and then I forgot all about it. I was baking a baby and fighting a surgeon so I could hold on to my gallbladder –story for another day– so I was a little preoccupied.
Then my contractions began.
And my water broke.
And I got anxious about how this baby inside me was going to get out. I even asked my midwife to remind me why I thought having a home birth was a good idea!
That’s when I remembered my playlist.
My calm & relaxing playlist. Which really did have this ever so creative name!
That included only one album.
With only a handful of songs.
But it worked.
It did help soothe/distract me while my kid was making his grand entrance.
And instead of feeling bad that I hadn’t finished what I had started, I felt like a genius for picking just the right album.
I didn’t need anything more.
It was perfect.
And yet, The Very Best of Enya tortured my husband and midwives while it played on repeat, not even shuffle, for 11 hours.
I still laugh really hard when I think back to when my midwives collectively, and aggressively, sighed out “Yeeeesssssss” when someone in my bedroom asked if they could turn off my music while I was snuggling my newborn.
So today as my son’s celebrating another year of double digits, and another year of not having a birthday party with friends or extended family (more sushi and cheesecake for us!), I’m going to get nostalgic and listen to some Enya on repeat.
I’ll leave you with only a couple of my favourite songs case you’d like to join me. Listen to this one and of course, this one.
My kid is also one of my favs and I’m grateful to be his mom. And the one who can’t be tagged (aka my husband) is grateful to be his dad… and that I’ll be wearing headphones while I reminisce with Enya.
May your February be ushered in by whatever calm and relaxing ways that work for you. Unless you’re a supporter of the conveys in Ottawa, or [the many other hate protests that are going on at the moment in the name of “freedom”]… I don’t have kind words for you and I wish you no peace while you’re spewing hate and misinformation.
If you made it past that last part without getting your knickers in a twist or without declaring war against another Black woman during Black History Month (or the rest of the year when I’m just as Black), then let me remind you that there’s still time to join me this month in Exploring Creative Connection Through Visual Journaling. You get instant access to the online course that’ll help you get the benefits of meditation but by doing something way more fun. And we’ll get to create together each Sunday from 1 - 2 pm EST. Click here to reserve your spot now.
Be well, enjoy the rest of your day and Happy Lunar New Year!
PS. While I’ve been hibernating, creating and caring for two ailing fur babies the books Misfits: A Personal Manifesto by Michaela Coel and Cack-Handed by Gina Yashere have been keeping me company. Both are perfect for reading in short bursts and give me plenty to ponder until I could return to them.
Michaela Coel created I May Destroy You (HBO) which is still the most brilliant show I’ve ever seen and Gina Yashere makes me bust a gut whenever she starts spitting out jokes.