What a year! Emotionally, socially, demographically, professionally… Just in every conceivable way, the Lazy W residents have had some unforgettable experiences in 2014. Good, bad, ugly, miraculous, and everything in between. We sit here at the tail end of the calendar feeling pretty wonderful, too. Despite and because of it all.
We have seen miracles. We have enjoyed the deepening of friendships. We have seen small crops grow and animals born in the sun. We hatched chicks and buried a mama llama. We said goodbye for now to Handsome’s Dad and hello again to our oldest daughter.
What got us through this incredible year? Depending on the day we might answer either “prayer” or “Hot Tub Summit.” Usually both. Prayer is powerful! And no joke, those early mornings soaking in the steam together do wonders for our union. It’s more than sexy; it’s a melding of minds and a harmonizing of hearts.
Alliteration is awesome.
This year I ran my first full marathon and discovered I was hooked on the distance, the overall experience, just all of it! I almost ran another full this autumn in Tulsa but made family time a priority. Zero regrets! Training for the April 2015 race has started, and I feel amazing.
Handsome is, as always, the hardest working person I know. I’d say “hardest working man,” but that sounds sexist and if I learned anything in 2014 it is that language and nuance matter a great deal and maybe I should avoid sexist vernacular, subtle though it may be. Anyway, he is working so hard at the Commish, and I could not be more proud of him and his team. They have faced down some pretty ugly monsters and can boast not just success but integrity. Here’s to an even more amazing, satisfying New Year, PUD! xoxo
Besides his professional endeavors which are never-ending and rarely afford him two consecutive hours to catch his breath, my guy has been jamming out one wonderful farm improvement after another, and I am so thankful for this! He’s also taken up painting interpreted fleur-de-lis and sugar skulls on reclaimed wood scraps, giving them to family and close friends as gifts. This has infused our home with a wonderful new artistic perfume. I love it! And I know the recipients of his artwork love it, too.
In May, Seraphine and Romulus gave us the sweetest little cria, and we loved him instantly. His big sister Dulcinea? Maybe not so much. The second photo below pretty well sums up the family dynamics.
Sadly but naturally (no predator or disease, just gentle old age), we lost Seraphine later in the year. Meh was inconsolable for days, but we are happy to report that now he is strong and happy, growing well, eating aggressively on his own, and well bonded to his big sister whether she likes it or not.
I completed the education piece of the Oklahoma Country Master Gardeners’ program, and in addition to learning a metric ton of great stuff I also made a hundred wonderful human connections. I walked away from those months of lectures deeply inspired to garden better on our nine acres here, and in 2015 I get to share more of that with YOU! So exciting.
This year I also replaced our honeybees and did my best to give them a good, strong start before winter hit. Fingers crossed, prayers uttered, essential oils dropped lovingly, in spring we will see the fuzzy foraging babies out and about, eager to pollinate our gardens and gift us with the sweet molten treasure we so crave. For 2015 I’ll also be writing a quarterly newsletter for our Oklahoma State Beekeepers’ Association, so if that’s something you’re interested in I’ll have more and more beekeeping information to share with you!
In 2014 I traded my black Camaro for a white Jeep. It was an emotional adjustment (silly how attached I was to that Camaro) but now I LOVE it. This Jeep is the vehicle for me, for this farm, for this stage of my life. It’s perfect.
We visited our favorite city, New Orleans, approximately 3,962 times. Not really, but we did enjoy more quick jaunts down south than usual. And our souls were nourished for it. We feasted heartily, we soaked up the music and the art, the architecture and the people. And this year we finally purchased a CD from a local favorite, Steamboat Willie. He and his well established jazz band play every. single. night. at a little outdoor jazz garden and cafe on Bourbon street. We love it there so much that I usually weep a little while we dance. I listened to the CD this week while doing housework and got a little teary again.
In 2014 I turned 40, woohoo! and have never felt better. Handsome and a whole slew of our wonderful friends and family members helped us celebrate, making me officially the most spoiled woman (err, person?) on this beautiful planet. He even rented a big pink castle-shaped bouncy house, and I could not stop laughing! Everyone jumped, too. Even my Mom!
Our phenomenal little Oklahoma book club, Dinner Club With a Reading Problem, read eight books together in 2014. We enjoyed six or seven discussion dinners (sometimes we double up our titles) plus a handful of bonus gatherings throughout the year. I love this growing group of women even more now than when we started book club four years ago. FOUR YEARS! We are all together the closest of girlfriends. Did you know we have official t-shirts and everything? Well we do. It’s pretty swell.
This holiday season, really this entire past year, has been the perfect illustration of brackish water, emotionally. And I have written about it before and enjoyed the outpouring of your words and love. Our oldest was with us, which flooded the house with light! She is a total joy and made every childhood memory come pulsing back to life. Having her nearby to love and dote on made every single silly little tradition wildly meaningful again. Who knows when we’ll get to do Santa next? When we’re grandparents? It was pure bliss for Handsome and me and we hope for her too.
But, being apart from other loved ones… Both of my husband’s parents (so many fresh wounds there), my sister Angela, our west coast family, our youngest daughter… It definitely hurt. We could look at this weird life intersection as a way that grief tempers joy; but we choose to look at it all as a way that joy floods the valley of grief. It’s very real, friends, and I hope that if you are ever in a deep valley of grief, you can find all the joy you need to flood it until your miracle happens!
xoxo
So overall 2014 was a year of both growth and evolution. Fun and recovery. Our adapting skills were tested, and I think we passed with flying colors. That doesn’t mean we didn’t hurt; it only means that we weren’t destroyed by the hurt. We were actually strengthened, changed by it in wonderful ways. And lest anyone think this is selfish, I am excited to soon tell you about how these changes made us even more ready for that moment our oldest daughter came home. God prepares us not just for ourselves but for others.
Do you feel ready for the new year? I sure do! I’m excited. I feel healed, nourished, energized, motivated by good, worthwhile things, and just overall amazing. I’m so grateful to be stepping into 2015 with my best and closest friend, my biggest fan and strongest rock. And we are going to have so much fun!
Happy New Year, friends! Thank you so much, really deeply truly, for following along this past year. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Thank you for helping us see the funny stuff. The Lazy W will be offering way more in 2015. Buckle up.
“It’s not so much how busy you are
but why you are busy.
The honey bee is praised.
The mosquito is swatted.”
~unknown
XOXOXO
