Crossing the divide

While watching tightrope walker Nik Wallenda walking over Niagara Falls tonight, I had a kind of funny thought: that tightrope is 5cm wide...half as wide as a woman needs to open up for her baby to be born...and she doesn't get a safety harness.  When I was in transition with my first baby, I remember having this very vivid image that I had to cross a Grand Canyon-like gorge on a shoddy, swinging rope bridge - everyone waiting for me on the other side, cheering me on, but I had to cross on my own.   Congratulations to Nik Wallenda and to every fierce woman making that journey to her baby tonight and every night, all around the world.