I'm feeling compelled to sum up this month, even though it's not quite over. It's been such a month, and I've been unable to share some of the crucial details of its ups and downs and whirling arounds, which has forced me into awkward positions on this blog, made me into something of a contortionist. My ambiguity has caused a few friends to contact me with concern, wondering if all is well.
Well, all is well. And I don't mean that in a Rob Ford way, whistling past the suddenly emptied offices of his communications team.
It's been a good month, but I won't pretend it's been easy. Decision-making is never easy, even when one is making decisions about excessively positive things, opportunities one has called out for, and hoped for, and pursued with determination. As I wrote in an earlier post, the doors are open. An open door is a blessing, and I feel blessed to be welcomed to enter.
But I have come to recognize, also, this month, that I can't walk through every open door, not at the same time. I may contain multiplicities, but I am only one. I can only be in one place at a time. (I know you already knew that, but it's taken me some convincing.) I am mother to four children. I am a writer. I would like to become a midwife. All those doors are open for me, right now. And I feel blessed. You, however, have probably already jumped ahead to the very obvious question that I somehow managed to avoid throughout this whole process: You are probably asking, okay, Carrie, that's wonderful and all, but how, exactly, do you plan to go to school full-time, remain involved in your children's busy lives, and continue to write?
Somehow, I thought I could do it all. I wasn't going to not do some of it, oh no, I was going to do it all.
Magical thinking, perhaps. I am the sort of person who thrives on juggling responsibilities. Quietly, I told myself I could set aside the writing for the summer months. I did not need to attend so many soccer games and swim meets. We could get a dishwasher. The kids could learn to cook. Quietly, I thought, bring on the challenge.
But then the doors opened, all at once.
And suddenly I had to confront my own limitations — of time and of energy. I had to ask myself: what am I prepared to sacrifice? And I had to accept that now is not the right time to become a midwife. That is a hard sentence to write, and it's taken me all month to carry myself toward accepting what I'm realistically capable of, right now.
For a good part of the month, I thought that this was an existential question about midwifery versus writing. Do I want to be a midwife or a writer? Well, the fact is, I'd like to be both, and I still believe it's possible. I am already a writer, married to it for better or for worse and enjoying a happy stretch of career momentum right now. And I'm grateful to midwifery for being a career that does not discriminate against age: expect me to apply again sometime in the next decade, as my children grow up and get their driver's licences and learn how to cook. No, what I've come around to recognizing is that this is not a question about midwifery versus writing. It's not even, really, a question. It's about being where I'm at, right now. And right now I have four children in the thick of their young and developing lives, and I want to be at the soccer games and swim meets. The shortened work day might drive me crazy sometimes, but I want to be here after school to gather them in, to follow up and dig around and take care of their lives in this very hands-on way. Juggle and spin it however I like, I can't commute to another city for school and be here for this now that won't always be.
How fortunate that I have an office, here, that I have quiet space to work, solitary time that is sandwiched on either side by frenetic activity and demands. I even have time to run and play soccer myself, to cook from scratch, see friends, and go on the occasional field trip. I go to bed done, and I sleep well at night.
I'd still love to doula at friends' births.
I'd still like the kids to learn how to cook.
And we're getting that dishwasher anyway — on Thursday, in fact.
When the time is right, I still hope to become a midwife.
But for now, my heart is full with the life that is all around me, right here, right now.
Here's a poem that wrapped itself around me a few days ago, coming from a book of essays I'm reading by Anne Lamott, called Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith.
What a difficult decision you had to make! I can only imagine how hard it was to decide this and I hope you don't second guess yourself (too much, anyway! I'm projecting here). You have so much to offer so many people in so many ways. Good for you for knowing yourself and life's limitations/offerings. That can be the hardest part.
I hope you do get to be a midwife in a decade or so, though. I think you'd be amazing.
and I'm elated to hear about the dishwasher!
Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it. I've had to remind myself of that a few times while my kids have been growing. So far, no regrets! I wish you the same.
I'm sure that when you do decide to pursue your next thing it will be the right time to do so.