The essence of life is subjective. What it means to me might not be how you
perceive or make sense of your own reality.
As I blow the dust that has collected on this blog over the last three
years I am simultaneously breathing new life into it. The absence of continual submissions never
declared it deceased since it has been available to anyone who may have come
across it via specific Internet search terms.
We have had the pleasure of interacting with strangers who have found our
page seeking advice for their travels in addition to the occasional commentator
on our own path.
We look back at our time spent abroad together as one
of the most transformative periods of our lives. Since our adventures in Mexico and parts of
Guatemala Faith and I have laughed, learned, danced, grown, created life, cried,
and continue to endure the recent devastation of losing our daughter during labor. We are marked by all of these
experiences that have shaped and reshaped the foundation of our lives that is
sometimes not constructed by our own actions.
While living in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas
Mexico, Faith and I let the wind be our guide.
I applied to graduate programs in anthropology all across the United States
while we inhaled the air of creative freedom unique to San Cristobal. We volunteered our energy and spent much of
our time connecting with amazing individuals from the region as well as meeting
incredible fellow travelers. Some of our
closest and strongest friendships were founded during this time and we love
keeping up with their lives.
Upon our return to the states in 2011 I was offered a funded graduate student position from the University of South Carolina’s
anthropology department. Faith and I
were ready for the next adventure in our lives.
We worked several jobs, lived with her parents, and saved up enough
money to afford the cross-country move in a matter of a couple months. All the while in the back of our minds we
knew that entering into these new unknowns was being led by the torchlight we
carried made up of hopes and dreams for that special day when we would add little
Orchid to our family.
Life in South Carolina has been amazing. There are more trees than roads, rivers with
otters and turtles, cicadas rattle the mornings while fireflies spark
the evenings. Faith landed a comfortable
position at the university working in accounting and I completed my master’s
degree and am working towards my doctorate.
Nothing could have gone more perfectly.
In our free time we play in our backyard which we have dubbed Mike and
Faith’s MicroFarm which consists of three chickens, two beehives, composting
worms, and raised bed gardens all with eccentric art influenced by the
permaculture we learned while in San Cristobal.
We succeeded in building a secure foundation ready for our family to
welcome another member.
In the Summer of 2013 Faith and I celebrated the realization
that we had conceived. The preparation
and anticipation began. On November 19th
we found out that the little life we had created was indeed baby Orchid. Every day was approached with excitement as
we painted dressers, put together her crib, made a mobile out of wool animals
from San Cristobal- we were always thinking of new projects and ways that could
make our love for her materialize in forms for her to enjoy, recognize, and
appreciate.
Orchid lovingly grew together with us and inside Faith for
41 weeks, but without warning or signs of complication her little heart stopped
during pre-labor contractions. There
were no obvious reasons as to what caused this. At the hospital our families got to hold her and together we cried.
Although she didn't squeeze my finger with her whole hand like I was really looking forward to, we will never forget holding her little hand between our fingers and how much that meant to us. Holding her hand in mine I sang her a song I had been practicing with a vocal coach that was to be a nightly lullaby for years to come. You can hear the song with the lyrics here:
Although she didn't squeeze my finger with her whole hand like I was really looking forward to, we will never forget holding her little hand between our fingers and how much that meant to us. Holding her hand in mine I sang her a song I had been practicing with a vocal coach that was to be a nightly lullaby for years to come. You can hear the song with the lyrics here:
The
most difficult part of all of this has been trying to make sense or find
meaning behind why this might have happened.
There are no medical explanations as to why and we are not satisfied
simply inserting Orchid into the grim statistics available (1 in every 160 pregnancies are stillborn and 40% of these are unexplainable). In our desperate longing to understand why
our hearts now bear orchid shaped scars we seek alternative possibilities as to
why we were dealt such a devastating hand.
There
are things about this material realm that we will never be able to fully
understand. Cultural and religious
beliefs provide some forms of explanations, but these fall short of providing
solace. We biological creatures are equipped
with only a set number of tools available to interpret the world we
inhabit. There is much more at play than
the apertures that are our senses allow us to experience or understand. As individual cells in a much larger living organism
the interconnectedness of ourselves with everything else is undeniable. The night we lost Orchid was the first of a
series of Blood Moons that fall into a sequence called a tetrad, where complete
lunar eclipses that turn the moon red will occur every six months for the next
two years. Life is a variety and
variation of compositions animated by vibrational patterns sparked and electrified forming individual living vessels. Could it be that Faith and I sent out a
frequency that was incongruent to this astronomical phenomenon? Did we attract too much energy to fill the
vessel that was to be Orchid, overwhelming her?
We will never know. We do not
blame ourselves or anyone else, but what we do know is that she is part of
everything, she is everywhere, reminding us to enjoy and appreciate. We have
and will continue to see her in the form of butterflies and other gifts of life
to love. Faith and I have received tremendous amounts of love, care, sympathy and kindness from everyone we know. We have heard from friends throughout the states and from other countries. Through all of them Orchid lives on and just like the actual flower- her presence can be found on multiple continents.
One week after losing Orchid we had to
put our doggie companion Scooter to rest.
He was 16 years old and was ready.
We have wondered if we had kept him around longer than he was supposed
to be. Could he have missed his next
train? An incredible thing happened when
he was finally released. We put him to
rest in our backyard- we lit incense, he was at peace, and he left us content
with all the happy memories we shared over the years. Within 30 minutes of his departing we began
to hear a loud rustling in the trees a ways out in the woods. We realized a swarm of bees had begun
mobilizing (not our own) and as they flew over us the air became scented
with flowers while drops of pollen rained down on us. We felt it deeply within ourselves that this was a sacred
experience.
Finding ways to honor Orchid is a task we have and will forever continue to accomplish. One week after losing Orchid, Faith and I found an incredible artist who was able to etch beautiful orchids onto our skin allowing us to be able to carry a piece of her wherever we go while also providing opportunities for us to see her and tell her story to anyone who inquires about our tattoos. Faith's tattoo on her ankle has delicate splashes of purple (radiant orchid- the official color of 2014 set by the color company Pantone) with a beautiful stem holding buds with Orchid Faith written beside it. My tattoo is similar, black and white with Orchid's na
A month later we were asked by Faith’s aunt and uncle in Kansas to paint a mural which incorporates an orchid. We also have a friend living in Mexico who included an orchid into a mural on her wall in honor of our daughter.
Also, we knew
there was only one place Orchid's remains belonged- Orquideas Moxviquil, where she first entered
into our consciousness.
In June of 2014 Faith and I, my mother, Faith’s mother, and my brother all traveled to San Cristobal. As we exited the airport a rainbow stretched across the sky and we felt warmth. Orquideas Moxviquil welcomed Orchid wholeheartedly and she now is able to be seen and felt in the form of amazing blooming orchids within their incredible greenhouse. We held a beautifully personal ceremony within the greenhouse full of orchids. We lit incense, read poems, and I sang for her. We feel that our little girl now lives on and grows through the unique expressions that only orchids are able. Knowing others hear of her short but beautiful life also helps us feel as though she lives on. Like sparking embers she lives on through beautiful moments of when her story is shared by entering into the minds of those who learn of her.
Always
looking for the beauty in this tragedy I believe that Orchid is alive, she
sends us messages through incredible experiences, and she lives in the hearts and minds of
those who know of her. Naming our
daughter Orchid has also had unexpected aftereffects. We came to realize that many people don't
have much prior knowledge concerning orchids.
Orchids tend to occupy a dimly lit space in our society’s consciousness
as a type of houseplant that is hard to take care of, one that is only for
expert green thumbs. This lack of prior
knowledge has even resulted in some learning of what orchids look like for the very
first time because of our daughter. For some, our
daughter Orchid has now imbued new meaning to orchid flowers allowing for all orchids to be a representation of her. We hope that when
you come across orchids you think of her; it is within you and all of us that she is alive.
I was going to show you the world
Unlock mysteries and hold you,
I was going to sing you a song
Dry your tears when you are crying
Now there's just no way of making sense of this
You were whisked away and taken from us
Looking down, I wish I could see you
I am here without you
I dreamt I'd teach you to dance
Carefree without nervous glances
I dreamt I'd read to you
Read to you as you fell asleep
I dreamt dreams that never will be
In my mind and in my heart I feel you
You are beautiful I miss you
I know you're there
'Don't despair'
I hear you say as your petals flow in the wind
I was going to show you the world
But it is you who is showing it to me.
Mike turned the poem into a song with his band and made this video.
Mike turned the poem into a song with his band and made this video.