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Sarah

@essoteria

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“All houses are dark until the mother wakes up.” 🧚🏼
— Khalil Gibran

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it took me 6 years to feel ready for homebirth, and months of meticulous planning and advocating to get the birth team i wanted.

the depth and quality of care and support i received before, during, and after birth is soil for revolutions big and small.

yesterday was international day of the midwife. today, i would like to publicly thank my midwives michelle welborn, pearl yu, and student midwife vita burwell for showing me what is possible when a woman is guided to trust her instincts.

thank you also to my musical midwife @thesundropgarden who recorded this song in our living room with alta’s two big sisters, preparing the space for her arrival.

—

midwife = “with woman” by @essoteria

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a year ago

hindsight is 20/20 and today, 20 years ago, this wildling made me a mama.

a reflection borne of this clarity, thinking about anyone out there with young daughters, going to sleep at night swatting away fears around your own coming of age stage, or all the ways you might not be showing up as they’re growing up.

i cascade onto you an unshakeable cloak of trust and courage;

that you may don it when your child steps out to gauge the width of the world without you and it feels like watching them learn how to walk all over again;

that you may have something to pull tight across your chest as part of your heart traipses onto the dance floor, determined to find its beat in young adulthood’s disco of decisions.

but most of all, so that you have something to pass onto them, to lay gently over their shoulders as they regard the horizon, watching the sun set on teenage-hood and transform into a vast night sky, twinkling with possibility.

mine turned 20 in the glow of a super-moon, eating a love-baked banana bread cake, surrounded by flowers and friends in the first home she ever paid a utility bill for.

what’s wild is that she is covered in a cloak of trust and courage that i patched together with thread she spun for me as she was growing up.

if you’re still reading, please take a moment to hold and lift her as she steps out of her second decade and onto her highest timeline possible.

forever my baby you’ll be.
happy birthday kaya love!
@_4.05pm by @essoteria

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10 months ago

🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 by @essoteria

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2 years ago

erik erikson, jean piaget, rudolf steiner.
neuroscience, cell biology, astrology.

all support the idea of a septennial rhythm—that life unfolds in seven year cycles—and so my darling brother, seven years younger, will always be entering a stage i’ve just come out of.

and while one might suppose my preview to be of great value to his life, i am deeply thankful to say that he’s surrounded by uninhibited thinkers and feelers that are true riverbank to his flow. today, on his birthday, the only other thing i wish i could give him, @shanxlui already did (with ink and paint; see last photo)—a powerful healing narrative and a reminder that he is loved.

so happy bertdei to everyone’s favorite bertie 🥰
wish we could be with you. ich liebe dich todo sobra much! by @essoteria

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a year ago

life update: mother of 3 🌱

had the homebirth experience i wanted — unlocked new depths and heights all at once. 20/10 recommend having midwives in our lives. (more on this in another post!)

feeling strong and serene coming out of my postpartum cocoon.

just in time for spring too.
heck yeah.🤘🏽🌸 by @essoteria

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2 years ago

feeling very pregnant and reflecting on how to thoroughly guide my daughters—when relationship to one side of ancestry is strong—but then there’s a whole other half of an origin story floating around out there begging to be anchored.

wild how pieces of all these people live in me yet i have but a handful of their stories and all of their genetic expressions to pass down.

spent extra time on the paternal line when holding court with departed souls this year. three daughters have me seeking out and healing the masculine to bring things into balance. what a trip. ☯️ by @essoteria

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2 years ago

Truth. @_littlepeoplebigemotions simplifying the important stuff. by @essoteria

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2 years ago

was going to keep the joy of my growing belly offline but would truly appreciate recos for sf bay area midwives and/or doulas right about now 🫶🏽

advocating for the birth i want = an expansive flex by @essoteria

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2 years ago

hi from the tallest skyscraper on the west coast! 👋🏽

the salesforce tower is an iconic marker that juts above the east perimeter of san francisco’s filipino cultural district: @somapilipinas. appropriately, we’re up here above the clouds with 🇵🇭 kinfolk at the forefront of growing and glowing up san francisco’s economy.

delighted to have helped @kultivatelabs kickstart an $80,000 fundraising campaign that puts its vision to nurture mission street into a cultural corridor into high gear.

part of the vision: curating the stately westfield mall to represent our culture—supporting retailers, food entrepreneurs and artists in reimagining how we invite people to engage with our community.

stoked to witness the momentum: kultivate has been an incubator for early iterations of my own family’s entrepreneurial, civic, creative, and charitable goals. 🫶🏽

be part of the renaissance? taken in San Francisco, California by @essoteria

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2 years ago

civil wedding 8.1.2016 🌻🫶🏽😙 @jonnywalkersf

(also, happy swiss national day to my peoples🇨🇭) taken in Brooklyn, New York by @essoteria

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2 years ago

this week eight years ago in paris 🖤 happy birthday my love @jonnywalkersf taken in Paris 3, Le Marais. by @essoteria

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2 years ago

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2 years ago