We slip into 2014 very quietly. All is well....

I lie on the trampoline and savour the opportunity to look at the clouds as the evening cools a little and the last week of the summer school holiday unfolds. Howard is moving sprinklers in the drying garden and the girls preparing to go for a late bike ride. The clouds turn pink and the crickets start to sing. It is the hottest time of the year out here (over 40 degrees some days) and the evenings offer a chance to enjoy being outside.

I will miss having everyone together when our routine returns. I will miss the girls choosing a meal from their favorite cookbooks and offering to prepare it for us. I will miss our conversations on the front verandah, the car being full on the trip to town, the house full of music, the evenings we squeeze on the coach together and watch TV, the fun they plan and hearing about their lives face to face.

We have one lovely daughter left living with us and she would like to learn to play the piano this year and keep up her polocrosse training. We are building new stables and setting up a round yard for the horses. Howard is very relaxed after our holiday in Port Douglas. The sheep are being checked each day and there are a few plans being made for next week but we slip into 2014 very quietly.

I do look forward to another year running back and forth from the farm to Sydney, so I can keep in touch and support all the family. We have lots of fun in Sydney. There is so much to see and enjoy.

I have returned to the gym in town and laugh to myself about how easy it is to put weight on and how much effort it takes to get it off again. I am ready to make some clear goals for myself this year but must admit to loving the feeling of no set town commitments and a calendar that expects very little of me, yet. 

Tomorrow will be a big bookwork day and I will also take the time to conjure up some clear goals that bust with passion and drive. For now I just want to listen to the sounds of a summer night, watch the stars appear and make a wish that our girls enjoy 2014.

As a parent I think it is hard to be completely at peace until your children feel great about themselves and their lives. Of course this is an unrealistic measure for me to base my sense of happiness and its unfair on them. They need room to learn, to make mistakes, to feel uncomfortable, to get upset, to be challenged, to make a choice and to maybe make another choice next time. I just hope they savor the simple things too, notice the millions of things there is to be in wonder of and take the lessons well (the experiences we need along the way to be able to grow and improve.) And one day I hope they know how to be true to themselves and stand on their own two feet….Until then I am right behind them, practicing being calm and happy no matter what….

And then the moon starts rising and singing 'all is well'...