Thank you for my Life

It’s my birthday. I am 33 in 2020. I can’t help but think about women like Nia Wilson, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor who won’t get to celebrate another birthday. Their Families don’t get to watch them grow and we don’t know what else would have unfolded in their stories.

If you have the gift of life then please use it to uplift others and dismantle systems of oppression, in whatever way you can.

I’m a white woman who’s had 2 home births. I owe so much to Black women. To the Brown curanderas and granny midwives whose wisdom made my birth experiences possible. I’ve been searching inside myself for something to write about and the only thing that feels worthy of saying is Black Lives Matter. Brown lives matter. Trans lives matter. Indigenous lives matter. Queer lives matter.

The most important gift I can pass on to my 6 month and 4 year old sons is for them to see me standing up against racism and injustice. To see me using my privilege to protect others. To see me interrupting systems of oppression and redistribute wealth. To hear me having conversations about dismantling systemic racism and oppression with family & friends. To watch me be actively anti-racist. So they can learn how to respect, value, center and uplift our most vulnerable communities. So they can learn how to be KIND. This has always been urgent and will continue to be until all people are free.

I have the opportunity to raise tender warriors for peace who will celebrate softness and love the Earth. It’s up to me to show them how. I promise I will because there really is no other option. Evolve or die. Love or perish.

Thank you to the Black and Brown people who created the yoga I practice, who made the music I dance to, who grew the sage I burn, who showed me how to walk in beauty. Thank you for your wisdom, your medicine,

your practices, your spirituality, your harmony, your rhythm and your resilience. You have healed me 1,000 times in a thousand ways. Thank you for my life, I owe you everything.

Life is a blessing. Life is a gift. Life is precious. Everyone deserves to have life, health, happiness, and an open path. Health in the body, peace in the spirit, and love in the heart. This is my birthday wish for myself, my loved ones and all of our relatives on Mother Earth.

So Be It

- Amy Grace
August 11, 2020

 

Amy Jenkins is a sex and birth worker currently transitioning from Austin, TX to Oklahoma. She is doing the best she can raising a 4 year old and 8 month old with her angel partner Nate.