"On this day, I dedicate both my heart and my hands to service..."
What a way to end this journey and to begin our life's work as Certified Nurse Midwives. Some of us will be traveling to our new destinations and others will be enjoying a few days of rest with our families. It has been a tough two years of countless papers, exams, and training for our new professions. Thankfully, we've had each other to lean on while balancing our many roles. Thus far, we've been blessed to have had this time to learn from each other and to have our paths cross.
I know the significants of this ceremony will resonate in all of us when we are faced with a difficult situation. I hope that we can all look back on this day and remember all the blessings and words of encouragement by our mentors, professors, husbands, mothers, children and fellow classmates. I look forward to fulfilling my pledge as a midwife and serving the women of my community. I was especially touched to have had my wonderful and inspirational mentor Ursula Knoki-Wilson pray over us and send us off with a traditional navajo journey song. To hear those words sung for us held all the meaning for me as to why we were brought together to pledge our hearts and hands to the service of women. Each and everyone of us brings with her a piece of themselves to the art of midwifery and I know we will help cultivate peace in all of our associations. 
I can truly say this experience has forever changed me and has made me stronger as an individual. It has also strengthened my family and my relationship with my husband. It has brought about an inner peace that my spirit has been seeking all of these years. A peace that I am a woman who fought hard for what she believes in and brought anyone willing to be apart of it with me. I feel like a woman who has "walked through my past and has healed into the present." I've learned that being with women during birth is truly a gift. I am truly honored to be with them and to bare witness to their transformation into womanhood. I am thankful to have had my amazing sisters be apart of my transformation through the turbulent waters of midwifery school and to have been able to be apart of their transformations as well.
I believe this poem says it best about my amazing classmates who I have had the privilege of knowing and will continue to build a life long relationship with. Written by Patricia Lynn Reilly...
Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself
Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.
Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself.
A woman who listens to her needs and desires.
Who meets them with tenderness and grace.
Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present.
A woman who has walked through her past.
A woman who has healed into the present.
Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who exerts, imitates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.
Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.
Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.
Imagine, we are all this woman.....
Many blessings to my lifetime friends who have now become my family.
....And to my amazing husband who remained my true friend and partner in life while I traveled this path to my truest form...
I know our work has only begun, but I look forward to what lies ahead...............My we all walk in beauty on our own paths in life.
