the next generation...

The first baby of my children's "generation" has arrived in our family circle. My son-in-law Kevin's sister had a 7 lb beautiful boy named Jaden on Monday night. This makes my daughter Sarah an aunt! Jaden will be the oldest of the cousins! How many times did we all sit together and figure out who was related to who and who was the first cousin etc. The circle of life continues with the next group and it is wonderful to see the happiness on Kevin and Sarah's faces as they hold their nephew, the newest addition to their extended family. I think I still have awhile before I am a grandma but it is very cool to see the love affair that is children begin for a new generation. Congratulations to Amy and Brandon, the proud parents and to both sets of proud grandparents.

Friends...

An added bonus to my surprise birthday party was Steve Clagett's attendance. Steve was walking well and driving which is pretty awesome. His rehab from the horrific car accident has been steadily improving, even tho' he will tell you it has been a long road. It was wonderful to see him and Margie out and having fun. Thanks for making my day special.

a sister's love....

I had a wonderful surprise birthday party, thanks to my husband and awesome friends. Thank you, thank you. I had no idea and it was really a special occasion.  On Friday, my sister Margaret arrived, unexpectedly to me, to celebrate with me. It was great to spend the weekend with her and to catch up on family news. She was able to meet many of my dearest friends and relax on the farm, just enjoying my life for a bit. Sisters are the best. We do not see each other for the longest times and then it is like putting on the most comfortable sweats- we just fit together- in a relaxed, quiet kinda way. We speak the same language and have the same memories. When we are together my brother Ian, Mom and Dad are still "alive" in the room with us. We sit and remember the best of times and laugh at the worst. Her hug brings everything back and another part of my world fills in around me. She is my witness to all sixty years, the one who has shared the whole thing with me. The only thing missing was my other sister, Patti, who was probably missing us as much as we missed her. But the love reached her anyway. Her absence is just the excuse for a future get together, in fact, Scotland is the locale of choice.
The party was wonderful and I wish my other kids had been closer but there again, it means I will visit them soon! Thanks to everyone who wished me a wonderful second half to my life!!

lightening up for the second half...

Here are more reflections on achieving sixty years. I spoke of lightening up and here are the things I am letting go and the also the things I want to try more -

Wear high heels often and to do errands. They make you stand up straighter and take more time!
Use the good silver everyday.
Spend the money for a wash and blow-dry. Makes your hair look great.
Try not to worry about the kids. Remember all the crazy stuff you did and you survived!
Dance in your living room, all by yourself. ( Lots of good "oldie" stations on the TV)
Turn off the TV.
Laugh at and share the funny videos everyone posts.
Don't worry if you forgot to put makeup on.
Don't worry if you forgot your phone.
Spend time outside.
Keep doing your chores.
Take a nap.
Rescue something or someone.
Forgive and move on, keeps the good energy flowing.
Eat dessert first.
Go to Paris.
Get rid of the clothes you don't wear. Give them to Goodwill. Then buy a new outfit!
Be generous.
Love.

Thoughts on sixty years...

As I do almost every morning I am watching the approaching dawn.  August 16th and the sun waits until 6:30 to crest the trees. Now, at 5:40 it is still dark, pre-dawn. The trees are black, the grass is silver with dew and barely a hint of what I know is green. The sky is palest ivory with brushstrokes of grey. A monochromatic world which even as I type the next word is changing. Lightening up.

I am thinking about this turning sixty. I have been here sixty years! The alternative of not being here makes me throw wide my arms and say Hallelujah! I am here and healthy and happy!  I am aware of lightening up myself as I get older. Aches and pains are not so worrisome, they are just reminders of a day spent working. I had a tick bite checked out recently and the nurse asked me if I felt more tired. I looked at her and laughed. And said, "Yes, but I thought that was just part of getting older. I kinda like a little nap sometimes." That is a guilty pleasure, lying down under a cashmere wrap and just resting for a half hour, reading maybe.

My broodmares are already at the gate, waiting to be fed. They are quiet, foals at their side, heavy with the next one. I have a mare now that is very crippled on one leg but she manages. Is very careful as she walks and very tolerant of the colt jumping at her to play. I stoke her neck and murmur, " We are a pair, with our bad knees." If she can do it,  so can I ride into my nineties. And ski. And foxhunt.  I think I will walk over in my dressing gown and feed them as they are so patiently waiting. I would not have done that in my thirties I would have dressed first. They are my kids now.

Three children. I think back on breakfasts made, lunches packed, soccer games, lacrosse games, dance recitals, swim teams ( which they all hated), tears dried and broken bones healed, noses wiped and fights refereed. I think of the gales of laughter and food fights and helping me with the horses . They can all ride tho' nobody does, and they can all yell at a horse to make it behave! I smile at friend's grandbabies, happy to hold them, and wonder how I managed to do all that. Three wonderful, awesome people that I am so proud to know and be part of their lives. I am a lucky lady.

One of my favorite authors, Doris Lessing, and Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, both wrote about the idea that women have three mates in life. Maybe not everybody, but they make the argument that it is not uncommon. I subscribed to this and believe I was blessed. The first was short-lived, a mismatch but he was very good-looking. The second, according to the aforementioned experts, is the mate we pick for childrearing and nest building. Mine was a great guy, needed me to help him reach a dream and together we had children and built a big nest. I turned a old tobacco farm into a horse farm and am living my dream. The third is the mate that we grow old with and is perhaps the best one- for me -yes! I have a wonderful husband who is also my best friend. I had to find a guy slightly younger to keep up with me! But oh so handsome!

So I am happy to be sixty and looking forward to the next sixty (my son, Sam, told me last night that the world's oldest man is a Bolivian and he is 123 years young!) Just think what I might accomplish in the next half of my life- hoping the knees keep up and the husband!

I hate beavers....

I have this huge beaver "pond" in my back 25 acres. I believe they are about to make a 10 acre lake, though my duck hunting friends tell me it will not be a lake but a duck hunter's paradise! I have had to change some trails that I ride as they have become underwater at this point or so muddy that I hesitate to proceed for fear of getting hopelessly mired. I am sure my horses agree! A
nyway, yesterday I saw this tree and wondered which beaver gets the last bite, so to speak. Do they draw straws to see who has to rush in and sink the last gnawing crunch that deals the "felling " blow.  There have been several trees like this recently, some have come down and I have a nice water jump now. The tree came down on an overgrown path that is right beside their dam. You have to jump the 2 ft log ( tree trunk) in about a foot of water with a rushing stream on one side. Kinda fun.

August routine and babies

We are back from Saratoga where we watched the rich buy very expensive horses. Made some great contacts and, as always, had fun with friends. We went to the track on Sunday and watched the Vanderbilt stake race. The grandstand and grounds at Saratoga were packed. Very festive and it seems that the whole population attends the races. Wish it was like that here in Maryland! The mares and babies are all back from Kentucky and settled into the August routine. I love watching the foals play tag and their version of hide and seek around the trees. Moms watch patiently, as they race from one cover to the next tree doing endless laps. Future racehorses indeed. I have actually started to ride again. When August rolls around I get a little itchy to be back in the saddle. Red and Polly are enjoying their morning rides ( except for the deer flies and occasional horse fly which, unfortunately,  get me when I forget to spray myself with OFF!)
Sam is loving his new job with Northrup Grumman and Will took the offer for a spot in private equity in Charlottesville for a year from now. Sarah is back on set, she says, doing "extra" work and makeup gigs to fill in gaps with the restaurant job. Interestingly, her new Prius is getting "extra" work also!!
Go 'SKINS!