Episode 32: Discussing miscarriage, mothering mindfully & mermaid-ing. Interview with Crystal Thornburg Homcy
Episode Description
For those of us who seek to align our children with the lifestyle and values we tout in our own lives, this week’s guest is a great example of brining this to fruition. Crystal Homcy, all around champion water woman and filmmaker, her mini-mermaid daughter Naia and photographer/filmmaker husband Dave, literally live and breath the ocean in Oahu where they reside. They also practice what they preach when it comes to environmentalism and living a sustainable life.
Calling Hawaii home since birth, this stylish long boarder has literally lived and breathed the water since before she even learned to walk. As an ambassador for Patagonia she is also an incredibly accomplished water woman outside of just being a surfer. You can find images of her online absolutely charging double overhead waves on less maneuverable longboards. For such a slight, graceful and lithe woman, she packs a punch when it comes to her accomplishments in and out of the water.
She is one of the only women to bodysurf in the Pipeline Classic, she is an Olympic flat water K1 kayaking competitor, second place paddle board team division competitor and Hawaii State Champion In 6-Man Outrigger Canoeing.
Crystal and her family also make good of her environmental science background, as they work closely with a number of environmental non-profits and have opened their own organic produce company, Crave Greens. She volunteers with the Audubon Society at Waimea Valley and has recently worked with other nonprofit environmental groups including Conservacion Patagonia, Save Our Seas, Surfrider Foundation, Kokua Hawai’i Foundation andThe North Shore Community Land Trust, among others.
What I love about Crystal and her family is how seamlessly they’ve integrated their four year old daughter into their lifestyle. An example of this is when Crystal would breastfeed her daughter in shallow water near her house in infancy to get her comfortable in the ocean.
Swim lessons came soon thereafter, and family outings always are sure to include something water related. It’s truly incredible to see the comfort of such a young child in the water, and how the family has travelled together as well as continued their filmmaking and environmental pursuits. Their film Beyond the Surface was filmed when her daughter was only five months old.
Today we are going to hear how Crystal didn’t have the “perfect” lead up to her pregnancy, her experience weaving motherhood into her active lifestyle, and her thoughts on the future of the environment for our children’s generation and what we can do to make a difference.
Take-Aways:
6:34: Reflecting on the big changes pregnancy and motherhood bring on and how she had to shed a few tears in the line-up realizing there were certian limitations to the life she once lived now.
16:01: Crystal reflects about how quickly she got pregnant once she put that intention into the universe, and the sudden loss of an unexpected miscarriage.
18:05: Crystal’s thoughts on how society views miscarriage and how it is not spoken about enough so women are often unprepared as she was
26:46: When Crystal found out she was pregnant again with Naia she didn’t want it to be public. She changed her whole approach to sharing about her pregnancy.
33:18: How infant swimming and nursing in the ocean has led to her four year olds adoration of the water.
42:09: Why raising her daughter to know where her food comes from is so important to her and her husband Dave.
47:47: How her and her family only grocery shop every two weeks in order to live a more self-sustainable life.
