Mixed Media Memoirs {#6}

I'm posting again today, because the SPT picture of me blinking just bothers me. I'm trying to push it down a bit on my blog:) I also finished up on this weeks Mixed Media Memoirs. The theme is "the trajectory of my life changed..." I thought I'd share my process. Of course the first thing that jumped into my head for this topic is when I first gave birth. My life has never been the same since. When I really thought about it, I realized that my life changed when I went into labor. The rawness, the pain, the surrender, the euphoria, the unconditional love of motherhood, that all started with the contractions. I had an unmedicated birth with my son and it truly was a life-altering experience. For this piece I used scans of the record my husband wrote down as he timed my contractions, a "breathe" poem that I had written in my pregnancy journal, pictures of me in labor and my first glance at my little darling. I chose the flower paper and embellishments because I found the metaphor of a woman blooming into herself during birth very powerful. My life trajectory changed course again when my daughter was born a year and a half later, but it wasn't as dramatic of a shift as the first. I look forward to more changes in direction as I follow life's ever meandering path.