Rituals of Beauty and Becoming

It's been a year since my pre-birth Mikvah in Florida's living waters

One year ago today, my body was full. Full of water, full of blood, full of a baby ripening in preparation of his emergence into this world.

When I think of that time, the opening line to a beloved Neruda poem always comes to mind:

Full woman, fleshly apple, hot moon

Full and swollen, wearing compression socks under my tevas, not entirely sure if it was wise to travel hours away from my birthing center, my husband and I and two dear friends took a small pilgrimage to a region of Florida that flows with cold freshwater springs bubbling up from the earth.

This was very important to me for two main reasons, one ecological and one ritual.