27 Comments
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Jenny Haden-Enneking's avatar

What an incredible proposal! That location is so dreamy. Congratulations!

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Erica Chidi's avatar

thank you, i still think about it all the time 🩵

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Grace Farris's avatar

Ahhhh I love the advice about not following a strict career path💙

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Bek's avatar

I had to have an emergency C section under general 2 weeks ago and have been feeling like I failed my baby. This quote about birth is really comforting to me.

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Erica Chidi's avatar

sending you lots of ease. be gentle on yourself 🫂

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Sarah Ann's avatar

Cenote reminds me of the episode of Octonauts! Being a parent is so wild, the random things you know from educational TV never ceases to amaze.

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Elizabeth Breen's avatar

Erica's career advice is so dead-on good and completely mirrors my own experience. Except for the actual jobs we did/pursued, that is which are wildly different! But she's completely right about following your joy and finding unexpected skills and connections to previous careers.

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Erica Chidi's avatar

thank you! ✨

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Chiara's avatar

Suuuuuch a good way to start the weekend. What a treasure trove of thoughtful insights and stories from Erica. Loved this!

Also yay congrats on your beautiful engagement, Erica! My wife proposed to me in the ocean so now every time we pass any body of water, we say that’s where we got engaged (because of how connected all the water in the world is). A cenote proposal sounds absolutely magical.

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Erica Chidi's avatar

reading this almost made me cry—truly. my soon-to-be wife and i feel the same deep connection to water, and your story just felt like such a mirror. there’s something so profound about how water holds and carries love across distance and time. i love that we’re all part of the same aquatic romantic portal. it’s so beautiful to feel how these shared symbols ripple between us. thank you for sharing this.

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Chiara's avatar

🥲!!

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Abby Phoenix's avatar

OMG YES on the "natural" birth thing. It's also confusing -- back when I was going through pregnancies (my kids are 13 and 10 now), some people used natural birth to mean unmedicated, and others used it to mean vaginal. The term bugs me on multiple levels, both related to precision and inherent judgment!

When I would rage about this issue back then, full of those glorious pregnancy and then postpartum hormones, my conclusion was always, "is it that we're so afraid to say 'vaginal'? VA-GI-NAL. VA-GI-NA. Just say it!" and I'm cracking up now remembering some of the reactions I got -- I was a pregnant lady on the (righteous!) rampage for sure.

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Erica Chidi's avatar

exactly 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

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Ceridwen Box's avatar

Great interview! I love her advice on careers and bringing your skills forward. As well as approach what you do with curiosity and joy!

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Erica Chidi's avatar

🫂🩵

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Liz Smith's avatar

I love the career advise, especially to not follow a strict path!

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The Common Ground's avatar

Loved the advice on career. As someone who studied business and later law and worked with the government, trying to find my voice as a writer is very new to me. I constantly feel like this is what other people do. I can’t be a writer. How will I earn any money? But her advice about giving your 100 percent is amazing. That’s the only thing that I can truly control-my input

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Erica Chidi's avatar

yes and give yourself LOTS of grace especially as you're starting something new. and try to have fun, which is sometimes the hardest part. 🦋

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The Common Ground's avatar

Thanks for the encouragement! Means a lot. Will try to have fun. It is indeed hard :(

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Amelia Wilson's avatar

Fellow rice cooker evangelist here! Can't overstate how much I love this thing! Everyone needs one!

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Erica Chidi's avatar

you are my people ✨

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Jennifer Klee's avatar

Contemplative walking soundtrack = immediate follow 🚶‍♀️🎧

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Erica Chidi's avatar

excited to get to know you 🦋

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Erin's avatar

A few issues back you teased an upcoming piece on a weird kind of jealousy you'd been feeling. Did I miss that? Was that ever written about? Just want to be sure I'm not missing an issue.

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Joanna Goddard's avatar

It’s coming up! Xoxo

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jen's avatar

i just love private proposals. no judgment, but those public ones turn my stomach. i guess that is judgement.

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Marlena's avatar

I have chills looking at the proposal photos. What love!

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