Quirkiness

On that first night at home with my infant son I couldn't seem to get the cradle close enough. The cradle had been passed on to me, an old and broken thing that had been refurbished by my father-in-law. Little John would never physically know his Grandfather so there was a sentimentality to his newly assigned sleeping space. Yet it just didn't feel right to put him in there, away from me.

I was struggling with my new role and also battling my instincts. I needed to see my baby and be close to him as he slept, but that wasn't how I was told to mother. Babies are safest in their own crib or cradle, everybody knows that... or at least that's what our society says. So why was I having such a hard time obeying the rules? I guess I was misbehaving like my Mother, who in the 1950's and 60's, was ridiculed and ostracized by the hospital nurses when she chose to breastfeed. Somewhere along the line intellect had overtaken instinct and the result was these insane rules, which came from experts and doctors, and determined how and where we birthed, fed and nurtured our babies.

With John I compromised with my civilized mind by putting him in a co-sleeper. Now I could see his precious little face and safely watch his chest rise and fall. Yet each time I awoke in the middle of the night with him nestled into my breast I had a pang of guilt... how powerful was the conditioning. This sacred and secret world of nurturing was considered unacceptable, even irresponsible, in most of the magazines, books and pediatricians' offices. Yet it felt so right to both my husband and I, and this sense of rightness was nurturing to us all.

So I dumped the cradle and ignored the crib and with each child I let the conditioning deteriorate and crumble. What I have discovered beneath that fallen facade sometimes frightens me, because it is so alien to the world around me. I have become one who questions almost constantly, not through a desire to be different, but because of the need to know and own my answers.

Out of my questioning a realization has grown. Something mysterious had been born in me when I birthed my son and daughters. And in the years that followed... as I spent my days swaddled and spaced in breastfeeding and nurturing, as I embraced, savored and sobbed through the joys and pains of pregnancy and labor, as I confronted the utter frustration of dealing with irrational, opinionated little beings who were too much like me to bear... I was becoming born as a Mother. But I was not just a Mother, I had become part of a stream of interconnection which penetrates humanity. If we just stop long enough to block out the noise and inane, constant and mundane communication and busyness, we can begin to hear the whispering wisdom.

Now mind you, during daily mothering whispers are infrequently heard. I don't walk through my life with my children, high on their presence, and constantly entranced by their magic. I often find myself in the super market with my children, grumbling under my breath about the need for a self serve wine bar as opposed to a coffee bar. By 8:30pm I'm wiped out by the whirlwind of chaos and complaints and I find myself yelling and quoting my mother: "Children are not cute after 8:00!!!" Not long after they are finally in bed, I have been known to berate myself for being a lousy mother... on long and lonely days that has led me to tears. Yet through all of this nuttiness I have found moments of insight, humor and joy, and through all the inner pain I have created from perfectionism, I have found compassion. I root into these flashes of equanimity and connection when I sit in stillness.

The world is so fast and it appears that few care about moments of silence, stillness and inner calm and knowing, after all nothing is physically accomplished or gained. Our civilized world so values its competitive edge and constant movement that even those that mother and nurture often jump right back on track and drag their kids in too. I just can't help but stop to wonder why... and lately that's all I seem to do.

Today I no longer fight my inner nature and I try less to filter myself for the world, because my connection to this deep stream of wisdom and oneness is essential to my being. It nurtures me, keeps me sane and it has led me to love my quirkiness. Sometimes I feel lonely and strange, but I can't be any other way, because I abandoned the safety and security of following the rules when I began to listen from within... and a little wine at the end of the night has helped too.