Thursday, August 31, 2017

It's gonna happen. I'm selling my business at the end of September. Sara and I will sit down with lawyers and the BANK and sign a large pile of papers and then they drop a check into my bank account and we shake hands and toast and hoo-boy.

The first time I bought a house, the procedure was about the same. It was me and my realtor and the escrow guy and the BANK and legal pad sized forms in triplicate. I went home after and went to bed. Even though I was signing on to a piddling amount of mortgage, to me at the time, it felt like I was signing away my first born. Gha...

Anyway, this process has taken about a year. And the end is in sight. I am so ready to be done. I'll still work but the business of the business won't be my responsibility anymore. I can't wait.

Here at the birth center with a family in labor. The parents are deaf and they are here with an interpreter. A very expensive interpreter. Which insurance won't pay for, natch. I've made the commitment to provide an interpreter in honor of my deaf mother who had nobody with her for the births of her four children, not even her husband. She didn't sign but that's not the point. Every woman deserves to be supported in her language when she's laboring.

There's a memorial for a baby this Saturday. I can't say much here but the whole community is heartbroken. I'm heartbroken. I'd like to go live in the woods now. With the bears and the deer and the wild birds.

In these times, may we all find peace in our hearts and lives.

7 comments:

Ajax said...

What a relief to be able to continue doing the things you love and not having to deal with the hiring/firing and clerical aspects. (I, long ago, realized that about myself; I'll take the pay cut any day in exchange for not having to be managing other people.)

With you in regard to disappearing into the woods.

Ms. Moon said...

I was at a birth with a deaf mother and her older child was the translator for us all. And also, at a birth where the mother was Chinese and she spoke very little English. Her mother-in-law was there and spoke NO English. The father translated in that case. And yes, all birthing mothers deserve to be heard.
May the memorial service bring some peace and even as I say that, I think of how very little words can do to bring peace. But we poor humans need them, don't we? We need to be heard and understood and comforted.
I am SO glad that you'll be able to "just" catch babies. What a relief. I can't even imagine.
I love you, Beth.

A said...

"In these times, may we all find peace in our hearts and lives." Amen.
And how wonderful that you provide the rightness of an interpreter
for a laboring mother.

Sabine said...

You are starting a new chapter. This is exciting.

am said...

Yep. May we all. Your post is moving in so many ways. Thank you.

Elizabeth said...

I come to your words at just the right time. Always, so wise, so filled with a certain humor. Thank you.

Pamela Johnson Parker said...

I am so very sorry for the family, for the baby, for the helpers who couldn't help.