Arms Wide Open: A Midwife's Journey by Patricia Harman

A time or two, I almost gave up on this book.
The author and I are of an age, I think..
and I remember the days where the book began, remember them clearly.
I remember the idealism and the search for freedom and love. Her
journey was far more productive and inspirational than my own, however.

I am sure that the the author did not intend that the most commonly felt
link between author and reader be fear. I think that it is a very personal
thing. I fear. I fear the things that cannot be stopped. I fear the demise
of this planet due to the greediness and blindness of those who walk on
her skin.

I fear not being able to protect my children. I fear that the most. I
too, can be accused of being a hyper worrier, and in fact have been. I
almost gave  up on the story. I think that the very pure and optimistic
energy in the beginning of the book nearly drove me away. It became easier
to read however, the deeper into the story I went. Sadly, it was because
of the current reality that began to creep in, and the admission of fear.
I felt as if I have a comrade out there somewhere. Someone else who knows
the feeling of loneliness, missing her children, and the inability to change
what is into what a mother wants it to be.

This is not as much the story of a midwife, as it is of a woman who
happens to serve other women by helping them have their children. She
is real, and she is vulnerable. Maiden, Mother and Crone, she is woman.
And she tries.. she tries hard to hold on,onto the optimism of the early days.
She reached me on a visceral level with this, her story of being woman.