Glass Walls...

Mother's day is just around the bend and it's got me thinking about not only how special it is to be a mom, but what it really means to be a mom. There's no question that giving birth and caring for a baby changes you.  And I'm sure it changes each of us in different and profound ways.  For me, it taught me a sense of patience and compassion I had never known.  It made me slow down a bit to recognize and savor what is important in life.  Before Avital life moved so fast.  I jumped from one project to another without slowing down to meditate on any of it.  My life was in the fast lane and I loved it.

Slowing down was really difficult for me.  It was foreign and uncomfortable and it took me my whole pregnancy to get used to it (yes a full and agonizing 40 weeks).  But as soon as she arrived, it was a different ball game.  I was happy to sit and nurse and just be for the first time in my life.  I took the opportunity to relish every moment and analyze and enjoy.

Moments like these should not go unappreciated:

Avital taught me patience and compassion and that patience and compassion brought me to Veganism.  While I began my journey through Veganism in search of good health, I found myself more and more moved by the indelible cruelty it paints on our society.

I started with Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet and read and read my way through so many books and have discovered this insatiable need to learn more about what goes on in our world's food system.  It's really shocking and upsetting to learn that the foods I grew up on were "grown" and slaughtered inhumanely and irresponsibly to feed me and my family.  It's upsetting to learn that so many of the things I was taught were healthy and nutritious were in truth harmful to myself and so many innocent animals.

That said, I have to admit that I'm really torn about how far I go with sharing this information.  I feel a responsibility to "protect" my friends and family from harming their bodies and the earth, but I hate to sound preachy or righteous.

So...I thought about posting this for a long time.  I decided, in honor of Mother's day, and all mother's out there who insist on telling everyone about how to remain healthy (read: eat your vegetables, don't microwave in plastic), this is an ok time to post this video.  It is really intense and overwhelming for many, but well done by the PETA people and narrated by the superawesome Paul McCartney, so if you don't have the stomach for it, I understand, but if you do, please please watch this through and if it changes you and your diet in any way I'm proud!