Because we should say I love you more often

My midwifery student colleagues are the best of people. This program is hard work and many of us feel as though we're on the edge, delicately balancing all of our responsibilities. This particular semester is known to be a catastrophe of demanding courses, with reproductively physiology, pharmacology, and clinical skills, where we were are introduced to such a tornado of skills that the room after class is often left in shambles (fake blood on the floor, sharps containers at every turn, stethoscopes willy-nilly) and you can almost taste the adrenaline in the air. There are assignments and presentations and exams and skills tests and we become exhausted. It's just a ton of work.

But. This group of women rocks my world. We look after each other, feed each other, look after children, study together, and commiserate with each other until the wee hours of morning. Sometimes we are called out in class to settle down, but what our instructors forget is that this is how we cope. We take it one day at a time and each day is better when we're laughing together about something or other. If this sounds contrived, not to worry. It's just actually true.

We're not all best friends but that's okay. We don't need to be best friends to reach out to one another. We're all here for different reasons, but the reasons don't really matter. We're here, now, and we will continue to make each other laugh and have the hard conversations as long as we need to.

One of our colleagues is withdrawing from the program and I'm writing all of this as a way to say thank you. Thank you for being all the things you are. You will be dearly missed and that is an understatement. We love you lots and want the best things for you. I miss you already.

Hille sporting a knitted placenta, courtesy of Kyla Austin. Hille will miss you, too.