Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is a beautiful rumination on the gift economy and gift ecology, and how care cycles through communities both human and other 🌱
Lovely post Jodie. I live on an island and my eldest is due to start secondary school which involves boarding on the larger island during the week. A transition for me as a mother but one I won’t be going through alone. Four of my close friends are in the same situation and the kids will be embarking in this next step of independence together. They’ve been friends since day 1 (two of us went into labour four weeks early and our boys are 5 hours apart!)and I’ve been reflecting on how grateful I am to have these women in my life. We’ve rocked, pushed, run after, cleaned up scrapes, wiped away tears, cleared up many crumbs of each others children. Community is everything isn’t it. I see it at the other end of the spectrum as the older islanders meet for their weekly boules club, catching up and supporting each other through the challenges of getting older.
Thank you for sharing this with me. Our island isn’t tiny but mainlanders tend to find it a little harder to find their community. When likeminded friends come along, you hold them tight x
I am just realising that I started reading your blog when I was expecting my first child. It was still called Che and Fidel. I was living in another country and feeling very isolated in my motherhood experience. Your words used to give me warmth and comfort and created a sense of beauty in tje crazy mess of having a new baby. So in this sense you took care of me too Jodi!
I have a theory that our urge to do handicrafts of a winter’s evening is an evolutionary trait/epigenetic remembering: at some point in time our ability to gather larger amounts of food relied on things like baskets, our ability to survive a winter’s chill relied on furs or knits, etc, and so it was the people who did this who thrived and procreated. We feel a now-innate call to continue this activity to help us survive, even if it’s no longer a necessity of survival. I feel it at times as an almost physical vibration thrumming through my wrists and hands!
I wholeheartedly agree with this and I think it’s incredibly comforting to think about our evolutionary history and what we need from a biological perspective. This is the essence of my new book and it’s prompted me to think very differently about what I need each day to live well x
So loved this post! Yes to it all; sharing and caring for news mums, and giving and receiving care. Takes me back to having my now 3 year old boy twins this time 3 years ago, and how the tiniest offer of help was so appreciated. Now I have a little more space I have capacity to pay it forward to the new mums around me.
Thanks for sharing this and articulating so much of what we know in our bones to be true and important ❤️💐
This gave me goosebumps and I don’t have children. I crave that kind of connection and care in both directions and you’ve inspired me to continue offering what I can when I can. I love the ending about the photo of the sheets with your mountain in the background being a “call for help”. I’m no longer on social media (other than a weekly read of Substack) but this story reminds me of the real life connections that can be made via the apps.
I’ve been thinking about it in regards to social media too…a golden pocket of joy amidst the scrolling. It’s helped me think more about community too, and the small acts of care that can make such a significant difference to someone’s day x
Jodi, this is the most beautiful post. For you both to find a kindred creative spirit, reaching back & forwards in the maternal timeline; it’s beautiful beyond words. One day I hope to visit your mountain.
Make sure you take care of yourself first, you’re still in the recovery phase (a new study was just released that shows birth recovery takes much longer than originally thought….although mothers have known this for generations) x
What a lovely post, and such a good reminder to reach out and help!
I’m reading ‘You are here’ at the moment ,too. It’s brilliant, isn’t it, and it’s going to be even better thinking that you’re on the other side of the world reading it ,too! With love PennyL in Dorset UK x
I think I’ll probably finish it tonight. I got it from the library but I think I’ll buy a copy because it’s the perfect book to dip into on a bleak day when you want some comfort and cheering up x
The most beautiful post. Yes, care doesn’t have to be repaid, it can just pass along when pockets of time and life stages allow. X
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is a beautiful rumination on the gift economy and gift ecology, and how care cycles through communities both human and other 🌱
I’ve read it and adored it x
Precisely x
Lovely post Jodie. I live on an island and my eldest is due to start secondary school which involves boarding on the larger island during the week. A transition for me as a mother but one I won’t be going through alone. Four of my close friends are in the same situation and the kids will be embarking in this next step of independence together. They’ve been friends since day 1 (two of us went into labour four weeks early and our boys are 5 hours apart!)and I’ve been reflecting on how grateful I am to have these women in my life. We’ve rocked, pushed, run after, cleaned up scrapes, wiped away tears, cleared up many crumbs of each others children. Community is everything isn’t it. I see it at the other end of the spectrum as the older islanders meet for their weekly boules club, catching up and supporting each other through the challenges of getting older.
Thank you for sharing this with me. Our island isn’t tiny but mainlanders tend to find it a little harder to find their community. When likeminded friends come along, you hold them tight x
I am just realising that I started reading your blog when I was expecting my first child. It was still called Che and Fidel. I was living in another country and feeling very isolated in my motherhood experience. Your words used to give me warmth and comfort and created a sense of beauty in tje crazy mess of having a new baby. So in this sense you took care of me too Jodi!
Oh this is so lovely, Mariella. I’m glad my words helped, if only in a small way x
I have a theory that our urge to do handicrafts of a winter’s evening is an evolutionary trait/epigenetic remembering: at some point in time our ability to gather larger amounts of food relied on things like baskets, our ability to survive a winter’s chill relied on furs or knits, etc, and so it was the people who did this who thrived and procreated. We feel a now-innate call to continue this activity to help us survive, even if it’s no longer a necessity of survival. I feel it at times as an almost physical vibration thrumming through my wrists and hands!
I wholeheartedly agree with this and I think it’s incredibly comforting to think about our evolutionary history and what we need from a biological perspective. This is the essence of my new book and it’s prompted me to think very differently about what I need each day to live well x
So loved this post! Yes to it all; sharing and caring for news mums, and giving and receiving care. Takes me back to having my now 3 year old boy twins this time 3 years ago, and how the tiniest offer of help was so appreciated. Now I have a little more space I have capacity to pay it forward to the new mums around me.
Thanks for sharing this and articulating so much of what we know in our bones to be true and important ❤️💐
That’s it….tiny acts of care which are achievable for many of us. Doubling a meal, picking up a load of bread, dropping off a coffee mid-morning x
This gave me goosebumps and I don’t have children. I crave that kind of connection and care in both directions and you’ve inspired me to continue offering what I can when I can. I love the ending about the photo of the sheets with your mountain in the background being a “call for help”. I’m no longer on social media (other than a weekly read of Substack) but this story reminds me of the real life connections that can be made via the apps.
I’ve been thinking about it in regards to social media too…a golden pocket of joy amidst the scrolling. It’s helped me think more about community too, and the small acts of care that can make such a significant difference to someone’s day x
Jodi, this is the most beautiful post. For you both to find a kindred creative spirit, reaching back & forwards in the maternal timeline; it’s beautiful beyond words. One day I hope to visit your mountain.
Welcome to join Georgie and I for coffee whenever you visit ❤️
So beautiful. Inspires me to serve other moms in small ways even as I’m just 10 months in to motherhood. Love your care and generosity!
Make sure you take care of yourself first, you’re still in the recovery phase (a new study was just released that shows birth recovery takes much longer than originally thought….although mothers have known this for generations) x
What a lovely post, and such a good reminder to reach out and help!
I’m reading ‘You are here’ at the moment ,too. It’s brilliant, isn’t it, and it’s going to be even better thinking that you’re on the other side of the world reading it ,too! With love PennyL in Dorset UK x
I think I’ll probably finish it tonight. I got it from the library but I think I’ll buy a copy because it’s the perfect book to dip into on a bleak day when you want some comfort and cheering up x
❤️