Meeting My Sisters

     The first real encounter meeting my classmates, second year midwives, faculty and other New Mexico midwives was at the San Ramon Tea.   Just for your information, Saint San Ramon is the patron saint of midwives, pregnant women and the unborn.  Honestly I had no idea what to expect.  The invitation said something to the likes of coming as my favorite female musical idol....mm.mmm..musical idol?  Even though I had time to think of a costume of sorts, I decided to just dress in my "best" and go as myself.  Truly I was very excited to see the names and faces of the discussion postings I'd read everyday, but once I arrived at my destination I was struck with a sense of  "What the hell am I doing here!"  I seriously contemplated turning around and driving home.  I really felt out of place, I mean here are these women I don't know having a grand old time dressed up in costumes drinking tea. I think at that moment I saw myself as the Navajo girl looking through the window at my future and realizing that I'm breaking some ground here.  Truly these were the inner workings of my fears at work, because these women were very welcoming.
     It took me a few seconds to collect myself and walk through the door, but I did.  Meeting my classmates was a little awkward at first, considering I lived an hour and a half out of Albuquerque and I had few opportunities to connect with them.  Some had become friends already and others had worked together before starting the program.  It was a little like being the new kid in school, except.....we were all the new kids in school.  This was to by my first lesson in midwifery. 
     The Midwifery community is a small and tight one.  There is this tradition in midwifery, that once you become a midwife, you are sisters.  So basically at the distinguished San Ramon tea I was actually meeting my "sister" midwives.  This was very different from any graduate or medical program I had ever heard of. I couldn't believe these women were going to be part of my support system in my path to midwifery and there after.  I don't know about you, but growing up I had only had a few select friends I considered "family."  Being a mother these days and I'm sure even before that, maintaining friendships after marriage and kids is hard to do.  You are busy raising your kids and trying to spend time with your husband, not to mention nurturing your spirit so you don't loose yourself in the mix if it all. That takes all your time! So here I was in a setting with some extraordinary women who all shared the same passion for women and children as I did.  You can bet that after this first encounter I felt like I really fit in somewhere.  These were my kinda ladies, smart, motivated, hardworking, compassionate, and ready to take on the world.
     If there was a recipe on how to grow a midwife, my professors had the recipe down to a science. In order to go out and care for women, we had to have a good support system and the knowledge to achieve our goals.  So like they say, behind a good husband is a good wife, well behind a good midwife is her sisters.....