Is so nice to be working as a postpartum doula again. Okay Universe, bring on the clients! I'm happy, I'm fulfilled, this is the path!

Anyhow I've done 3 shifts so far with little Elias Jay and his parents up in Santa Barbara. He was born in the wee hours of Friday morning, and I showed up that afternoon to help clean up the aftermath of a home birth, and to see how everyone was doing. So very, very lovely.

They are wonderful parents and just so open to all the latest in birth and childrearing. As I mentioned, Mary Jackson delivered their baby, and they have also been working with Ray Castellino pre- and post-birth. Imagine having him working with you through your birth. Powerful, to say the least.

Another beauty to this new gig is the drive. The coastal 101 from Ventura to Santa Barbara is one of the most breath-taking vistas around. Huge empty hillsides, impossibly green (this time of year) with beauty lighting in the waning afternoons that make me want to stop every few miles to take photos. It fills me: the flickering silver-green water, stretching out to infinity; grey-purple clouds forming a wall on the horizon; splinters of sun illuminating patches in the hillside so they glow gold and jade. I am swept away each and every time. I love winter in California. It is when we have Nature's gallery opening, and every day, it features a new artist.

I feel blessed to drive through this, to be washed in it. It is a good reminder of the Bigger Scheme of Things.