Savoring the Season
Rousham, June 2024
2024, take a bow. What. A. Year.
We all have years that honestly, we are glad to see them go. That was 2023 for me. I gave it a one star review, a hearty slap on the back and said, “see ya wouldn’t want to be ya” and went on my way into a bright and beautiful new year. 2024.
It was last year, on New Years Day 2024, that during my typical resolution reflection time I was rudely interrupted by the blood curdling screams of my two friends I was spending the holiday with at the lake. You see, there was a bat… in the lake house. It is a very disconcerting discovery when you are still snuggled up in your pj’s drinking coffee and a flying mammal swoops down from the fireplace. Now you will be proud to learn that after all the screaming and the panicked inflating of an air mattress to block the doorway and some dramatic draping of blankets over our heads, we did successfully capture the bat under a blanket, slide it into a box, and release it back into the wild. And after reading too many internet threads on rabies, we all lived to tell the tale.
Nantucket for Mom’s 60th!
But there was one thing that didn’t walk away unscathed, and that was my personal annual burden to write out all those perfectly articulated New Years resolutions. Last year I just simply never got back around to finishing those cute little resolutions after the adrenaline rush of the bat hunt. And it turns out, it was just the absolute best year ever! Who needs resolutions?! Who needs goals?! HUZZAH!!!
I am being a little dramatic (perhaps that is a symptom of rabies??). I did have goals in 2024. I had some thoughts for the year ahead. But in all honestly, I just let the year scoop me up and take me on the ride. It was a year of YES. I said yes to everything. Every speaking opportunity, every client that inquired, ever trip that was proposed. I did new things I had never done before… I bought my first home, went to an improv workshop, tackled challenging designs, took up needlepoint, learned Mah Jong, swam in the Atlantic Ocean in Massachusetts and Cornwall, read good books, read one really bad book (it can join 2023 in the 1 star reviews), saw my designs get installed, saw meadows I planted bloom, travelled to new places, ate so much tiramisu in Italy, made new friends and laughed with old ones. Every year has good days and bad days. But man, this year had so so many more good days that bad. The great thing after 1 star years, is that the 5 star years feel that much sweeter.
Nantucket showing off
The word that kept rolling around in my head this Advent season was SAVOR. I wanted to savor every bit of it. The joy, the cookies, the Christmas lights and the carols. I wanted to sink deep into time with family and friends, the parties, the Christmas movies, and the message of Christmas hope. And now that Advent has come and gone, I still can’t get the word savor out of my head. I think it is the word that I want to infuse my life in every season. I don’t want to sip what this life has to offer. I want to drink of it deeply, to savor it… all these bright and beautiful parts that I have already been given.
So, in the spirit of *no resolution 2024,* this year (with no bat interruptions needed) I decided I am taking this cold dark month of January to ease into the New Year. Instead of jumping out of the gate on January 1st with all those resolute thoughts and feelings, I am taking a pause. Listen, my Christmas tree is still up… and I don’t feel one bit of shame. And as I sit in the glow of my perfect Christmas tree this January, I want to really reflect on the year that has passed so I can walk confidently into the year to come.
Lake Como, Italy
Bergamo Cathedral, September 2024. International Landscape Festival.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting some stories from a few of my favorite garden highlights of 2024. I promise it shall include but is not limited to Cinderella’s Castle (with 3 year old princesses), English Countryside estates (with sheep!), Italian cobblestone streets (with tiramisu!), and some colorful colorings on papers that become actual places (with plants! and rocks!).
2024, I hate to see you go, but I like watching you walk away.
Huzzah!