It was truly amazing.

Last week, my sister told me that the band our cousin, David, who died unexpectedly at age 24 in an accident, LOVED - O.A.R. or Of a Revolution - will be playing in Ithaca next month.

The next morning on my way into work, I decided to play some of their old live album. Of course, the first song is City On Down - about friends and family reconnecting after death.

“In the end, my friend, we will all be together again...”

— City on Down by O.A.R.

So there I am - jamming, smiling, feeling connected to both my cousin and our grandmother, Pearl, who died just four months after him - when, all of a sudden, my entire Bluteooth system I use to play music in my car just turned off. It has never done this before. I looked down, checked for loose connections, etc. Nothing.

I could only assume it was David and Grandma saying hello.

Except I had this sense that they weren’t just saying hello. They were grabbing my attention.

So I’m sitting at a stop light and I literally say out loud, “Ok, ok! You’ve got me. I hear you. What’s up?”

I feel myself connecting with them and having a conversation of sorts. They tell me Beckett is such a joy to see, that they’re so proud of me. Tears start to roll down my face.

I get to work and I wipe my tears, head into the office, feeling like a huge gift has just been placed in my lap.

A few hours later at lunch, I decide to take a quick walk around the block on a whim. The sun is shining, it’s cold but not too cold. Once again I am feeling connected to something divine and much bigger than myself. I say “Hi,” again to David and Grandma.

And then I hear it, clear as the sky is blue: “It’s time to look at postpartum doula trainings.”

I had been interested in becoming a postpartum doula for a while - it’s one of the many ideas I’ve put into the Universe for what the next leg of my career might look like. But I had put it on the back burner, knowing it would be hard to be away from Beckett for more than a day or so for quite some time.

But in this moment, walking down the side of the road, my guides told me: It’s time.

I immediately pulled up the DONA International (doula certification organization) website. As I’m looking for trainings, I’m finding some that are in a good location or a good time but nothing that seems to have all of the aspects I would need to make them work.

I’m getting a little frustrated. Then I click into one of the training host’s websites and see it is run by a place called Yoga Mamas in Toronto and they have a Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training.

Something clicks. I’ve been saying for months that I wish our community had more resources for women coming back to movement after giving birth - particularly yoga. There’s so much focus on prenatal yoga - how about postnatal?! Well, here it was - my opportunity to give to myself and so many other mamas the missing link.

In fact, they are only running two of these trainings this year: one that wouldn’t work for me during the holiday season, and one in June, for which the early bird deadline ($100 in savings) was in TWO DAYS.

It all hits me at once: that I was meant to find this training now, to prioritize it, to plan it into our family’s summer, to take my next step on my journey.

And I never would have found it if I wasn’t open to divine guidance. I decide then: this is happening.

That night when Zack gets home I tell him I’m planning to go. That he and Beckett can stay home or come with - up to him. I also warned him it might be a lot to chase after an almost-one-year-old for two full days in a new city while I’m in training, so perhaps he’d like to invite his mom to join us and help out with Beckett.

He calls her to ask her if she’d like to join. She immediately says yes. While he is on the phone, I find a super affordable Airbnb five blocks from the training location. And, like that, our trip was booked.

What struck me the most about this whole experience was how easefully everything flowed. When I heard, “It’s time to look into Postpartum Doula Trainining,” I thought I would be signing up for, well, a Postpartum Doula Training! But instead of feeling shut down about none of the trainings currently listed feeling like they were a good fit, I simply followed where the energy was flowing and let the Universe bring me to exactly where I needed to be and what I was meant to find.

Now when I say “simply” it might seem as though I’m saying this is easy and I do this all of the time. Of course, that is not the case. I am human and I have a (currently sleep deprived) lizard brain that likes to go in crazy circles and occasionally spiral out of control. But in these moments, when I was able to focus on my connection points with divine guidance, it did feel simple. I was able to not over-complicate it. I just tuned in, listened, and did the next right thing.

What a great reminder that what is meant for us will come to us, if only we will allow it.