Fall is my favorite season, and Fall 2022 was fast paced - it seemed there was always something to look forward to that was fun but that also kept me busy as I prepared for it.
The Feast of the Hunters' Moon was exhausting but worth all the time and effort I'd put into it. Not only did it connect me to genuine 18th century history that had unfolded right here on the Wabash River, it also connected me to family - my mother was one of the founders of the Feast and my sister has been the director for the past 17 years.
Four generations of our family have participated in it, and three of them were there that weekend.
I barely had time to recover from that than I was headed to the October GLC show.
Liz invited me to stay with her and we have a wonderful time catching up.
Horse Buddy Trinity came out during her fall break at the University of Iowa and met Two Socks.
And my siblings and I were guests at The Farm at Prophetstown at Prophetstown State Park
when they dedicated their new heirloom apple orchard in memory of our family's orchard.
All of us taking a break from working in our orchard back in the 1960s.
In December I learned that when you don't want to see a unicorn, you do, and when you are trying to find one, you can't.
I spent time in the hospital with stroke like symptoms that (luckily) turned out to be complex migraine symptoms. I still have them, but I've learned how to cope with them. (The worst is when my speech is affected and I garble words and am hard to understand; the second worst is when my hand and arm go numb and I can't hold things, write, type, and essentially only have one hand for a while.)
Thanksgiving rolled around and we had a smaller group with us than usual.
Little did we know that it would be our last holiday with James.
In December, Teacher Daughter Lisa invited her students and their families to come out to the barn on a Saturday and she taught them about animal adaptations with help from Tim and his granddaughter.
James was in and out of the hospital in December (he had a rare genetic liver issue) and had a heart attack just before Christmas and died December 22, devastating us all.
I was so grateful that our family was together and there with Lisa as she coped with his loss. While we mourned, we had our moments of fun and laughter, too.
I'm ready to move on to 2023 and am hoping we will continue to heal from James' loss.
Happy New Year to you all!
Happy New Year! So sorry for your loss. That is so very hard.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing so much of your family, the good and the sad. I wish there was something to say to help ease the pain. I'm glad you had so much that was good.
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