A fantastic business; already recommended you to my 60+ friend walking Camino in May. i walked it (Portugese route) at age 64 in September; hopefully not the last hurrah for my now ailing low back).
Amy, I know I have said this before, but I am always so inspired to read about your life in construction (after the destruction..?). It’s wonderful to see you with your daughters in your new home/ destination/ destiny. I am hoping that once I move back to Europe, my daughters will follow close. For now, despite the cold in Montreal, I’m loving every minute with my girls (my rose) and working through the financial challenges (the thorn) and… trying to keep an open heart for this very shy Brazilian man who showed up in my life unexpectedly and is nothing like the man I imagined I would need/ like (the bud?) Live it up Amy! Sending much love. Cheering you from afar
Thank you Imola and yes it is so wonderful in so many ways to be here. With my darling girls. And I hope your ‘roses’ follow you to Europe one day. Ah, those thorny financial challenges, I know them, too. As for your ‘bud,’ I love this for you💗stay open like a bud unfurling
Amy, I'm so very happy for you living your destiny with so much joy! I love the relationship you've cultivated with your daughters. I love Sara's question of what was today's rose, thorn & bud. I love that you heard Bach, saw & experienced Montserrat (such a marvelous mystical and magical place) and that you are decorating your new home. I'm excited for you for your trip to Peru. Machu Pichu is also a place of wonder & magic!
I'm so excited to visit you in April & celebrate your birthday with you.
As for me, life is strange at the moment. The rose is finding joy in experiences like visiting 87 year old Golden Girl Carol & a 3 hour conversation over honey lavender tea. Then taking myself to see Fab Five Live (the folks from Queer Eye) and this Friday I perform in person for Festival UnBound. Very much looking forward!
The thorn is the insanity happening in the US at this time. It's horrifying. Ive been directly affected in losing work & might lose medicaud which i recently qualified for due to loss of work in caregiving for mom over the past 18 months + loss of work this year due to freezing of fed funds. Plus my mom's
had a setback and it's required more
of my time to take her to a bunch of doctor's offices i feel for her. I feel for me too.
The bud is the travel to you which feels like a gateway to reclaiming farther flung travel which feeds my soul. Oh and facilitating Steer Your Story how to cope in these challenging times. Oh and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer asked to interview me on her Emerging Form podcast!♡
Lots of love, see you soon! So happy you are so fully living into your destiny!
Kristin thank you for your positive support as always; I am glad you are finding roses amid the many thorns life and this awful political regime is putting in your path. We will be dancing among roses literally when you are here on your visit. Roses & bubbles! And how cool the wonderful poet Rosemerry is inviting you on her pod! You must let me know when it airs.
There is so much love and sweetness in these words, Amy. What joy to experience this beautiful life with your daughters, to be so close to their worlds now. So lovely! Mountserrat looks gorgeous, as do you three. 🥰
I think I smiled the entire time reading this, Amy. I am so happy for you.
“And now it is here.” Yes. You are right where you belong, living out your destiny. And discovering so much among the way. Thank you for sharing all your newfound delights with us. Wow, you’ve done so much already.
The animal farm - eek.I would LOVE to roam around there. And ceviche is one of my favorites. Yum!
I can’t wait to incorporate the rose, thorn, bud prompt with my kids this evening. What a lovely way to check in with one another. My kids are sweet in that they remember to ask me, “Mom, how was your day?” But this inquiry goes deeper. I love that it offers us a chance to be forward looking. To see the bud that awaits us. That will bloom in time. 🌷
My rose right now is savoring this senior year of high school with my son. He just wrapped up his basketball season and it’s been so heartwarming to see him grow as a player, teammate and athlete on and off the court. Now we wait to see where next year will take him. Perhaps that is the bud. The next chapter for him. I know wherever he ends up, they’ll be lucky to have him.
My thorn is overwhelm. It just loves to poke me, especially lately. I am in the process of moving my work office into my home. This requires purging and lots of organizing, physical stress and some emotional stress as well. I will miss my office outside the home and I’m a bit uncertain about where I’ll end up next. Trying to lean into this new arrangement, make it exciting to switch up some space here at home for me and know that the work space arrangement I’ll make outside the home will work itself out. Uncertainty is often my thorn.
Thanks for such a rich essay, sharing so much with us and for this great prompt. 💕
Allison, how happy I am this made you smile. And it makes me glad you’ll introduce the prompt with your kids. Paying it forward, yay💗You are certainly cherishing the rose of your son’s senior year. It’s a big transition for both of you. Change is never easy, hence I understand losing outside office space & wondering how at-home office will work for you. Overwhelm like everything else is a teacher. Do you have Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart? She explores different emotions at length including overwhelm. Remember to take time to slow down, breathe & get out in nature. This always helps me💗
Ok, you and I are continuously synched up! I literally started listening to Atlas of the Heart on Audible this week! Hahaha. How wild is that? I need Brené to walk me through all these feelings!
Amy, what a beautiful post reflecting on the journey that led you to where you are now--your destination, which is also your destiny. Throughout the essay, I can feel a deep sense of contentment and joy. You have walked through a rough but conscious path in the past few years, and look at your now! Transformed from the previous 3D to the current 3D. It's nothing short of a metamorphosis, isn't it?
I like this passage: "...here I am, ready to begin again, with a far deeper knowledge of who I am and from where I’ve come. The weight of all that I have carried and the insights I’ve gained about myself, relationships, love, loss, belonging, the gifts of solitude, and the rewards of excavating one’s interior landscape are with me still. They are the foundation on which I find balance and ballast when doubt and insecurity strike, as they will. For that it is only human."
Finding balance and ballast--these 2Bs summarize the daily struggles every human being experiences. Right now, these two seem almost unattainable in the political tsunami we're going through in the States. Reading your blissful experiences in your new hometown gives me a sense of peace and respite. I hope you continue to enjoy your life in Spain and share the joy with us.
Thank you so much Louisa for these thoughtful comments; I really appreciate all you have to share, and it means so much, your loving witnessing of how far I have come. I do wish you balance & ballast in the stormy seas of the political tsumami in the U.S. The ways in which cruel and greedy and undemocratic (inhumane really) decisions are being made over people’s lives worry me so (enrage me, too). I am glad my account of life here in Barcelona can offer you respite. Know that my heart is never far from those I love and care for across the pond, you especially soul bestie💗💗
What a beautiful ode to a weekend packed with love in your new hometown , together with beloved Marielle and Esteban 🥰 honored to be featured here , and so proud of how far you’ve come, mamma dearest 💕 can’t wait to see what this new life chapter has in store for you!
Oh, my goodness . . . there is SO much in your piece that I want to savor. And since my husband and I are visiting Barcelona and Seville in early April (first time for me, second for him), I'm absolutely riveted. Sounds like it's a good thing we've pre-purchased our Montserrat tickets!
Amy! GAH! I just listened to the audio version and now just read this gorgeous essay of yours and I really just want to sit and have a cup of tea with you and TALK IRL about ALL of it. Where to begin?
I, too, love that in Spanish, there is only one word for Destiny and Destination. What serendipity for you now finally getting to live out your destiny in this beautiful destination where you will get to spend more time with your precious girls.
I relished so many of your words, but this was one of my favorite sentences:
"Letting go of what no longer makes sense to my soul, and opening myself up to a new kind of music." Ah, yes, the continual pruning of our lives, the letting go. I enjoyed your play with and sharing of music, one of your loves, here. I relate so much to this letting go of what no longer serves your soul. How wise you are to listen...
As a mama to two grown daughters, my own heart lifted at hearing the lilt of joy in your voice as you spoke of the happiness of having your arms around both of your daughters. <3 And the photo-the joy is truly palpable in your bright smiles. (and are you petite, like me, too? Both my girls tower over me! They have to swoop down to hug me, their 5 foot mama!)
Thank you for sharing the question of the rose, the thorn, and the bud: love, love, love.
I may ask you if I could borrow it to offer in my workshops. I had a similar practice from my Unitarian background of joys and sorrows, but The Rose is not only lovelier, but I like how it expands on the reflection by looking toward the future through the Rose Bud.
and, oh for the love of animals and those lemurs. I want to bask in the sun, doing yoga, letting my delicious food digest! TOO cute. I got into watching a set of otters whose otter parents have a channel on YouTube- for a bit-your clip reminded me of them.
Amy, as you have shared with me before, I see such parallels in our seemingly different lives and journeys: the interior growth, the external change. The grief, the loss, the love, the relationships. Arriving in new (and old for me) destinations, with our new (updated, evolved) self (s).
My Rose: now that I am back home full time, getting to share some daily life with my younger daughter, supporting her as best I can while she finishes up a grueling Physical Therapy Assistant program
The Thorn: revisiting and wrapping up my divorce details with my ex this weekend (though we are back in a beautiful and gracious, cooperative space)
The Bud: my new life awaiting me after I wrap up some big financial necessities and figure out a potentially new career path moving forward in this, my 60th year
Thank you for sharing your journey here with us, Amy: the Destiny, the Destination, the Discovery (your new Living in 3 D?)
and Thank you for offering us the opportunity to share here with you as well.
OH Amy, I am so delighted in your delight. This, "And here I am, ready to begin again," I loved that line so much. It will keep reverberating in my mind all day. A gorgeous mantra from my wonderful friend. I love reading your words and about your life. xoxox
Thank you Jocelyn. Sending lots of love your way too! I hope life is giving you joy and delight, too. I very much miss being in the midsts of joy-hunting with everyone over at WITD and hope to get back in the swing of our work with Ross Gay and with SCHOOL, where I've had a terrible case of hooky (not intentional, just life). In any case, a great delight has been getting to know you through Writing in the Dark. So glad my words are a mantra for you, too. Beginner's mind--the Buddhists have it right. So much to discover with that perspective.
What a beautiful life you have made for yourself! Enjoy every moment. This quote will stick with me: I will hold nothing back in my effort to live. I will not hesitate to be.
That's right, Vanessa! A quote designed for both of us. I am so happy to see you blooming, too, with the brave decision you've made to create a new beginning in your life. And I am beyond thrilled I get to meet you at CAMP this summer!
Thank you Barbara!, for being the very first to drop in here with a comment and for being my dearest friend over so many rich decades of experience. Can’t wait to visit you in Stockholm soon and for you to come here (possibly for my 65th birthday April 12? Hint hint😀I have space for you 💗).
Rose: time with family. Thorn: a disagreement this morning. Bud: A growing new business
Rebecca, thanks for playing along. Excited for your new business. What is it, if you’d like to share.And that rose and thorn: totally relatable.
Hello Amy -- I help people 45+ plan their walk on the Camino de Santiago. (TheCaminoCalls.com and here on Substack as well). :)
A fantastic business; already recommended you to my 60+ friend walking Camino in May. i walked it (Portugese route) at age 64 in September; hopefully not the last hurrah for my now ailing low back).
Thanks, Amy!
Amy, I know I have said this before, but I am always so inspired to read about your life in construction (after the destruction..?). It’s wonderful to see you with your daughters in your new home/ destination/ destiny. I am hoping that once I move back to Europe, my daughters will follow close. For now, despite the cold in Montreal, I’m loving every minute with my girls (my rose) and working through the financial challenges (the thorn) and… trying to keep an open heart for this very shy Brazilian man who showed up in my life unexpectedly and is nothing like the man I imagined I would need/ like (the bud?) Live it up Amy! Sending much love. Cheering you from afar
Thank you Imola and yes it is so wonderful in so many ways to be here. With my darling girls. And I hope your ‘roses’ follow you to Europe one day. Ah, those thorny financial challenges, I know them, too. As for your ‘bud,’ I love this for you💗stay open like a bud unfurling
Lovely write! At this time, my rose is my health, my thorn is my longing, and my bud is spring weather
Amy, I'm so very happy for you living your destiny with so much joy! I love the relationship you've cultivated with your daughters. I love Sara's question of what was today's rose, thorn & bud. I love that you heard Bach, saw & experienced Montserrat (such a marvelous mystical and magical place) and that you are decorating your new home. I'm excited for you for your trip to Peru. Machu Pichu is also a place of wonder & magic!
I'm so excited to visit you in April & celebrate your birthday with you.
As for me, life is strange at the moment. The rose is finding joy in experiences like visiting 87 year old Golden Girl Carol & a 3 hour conversation over honey lavender tea. Then taking myself to see Fab Five Live (the folks from Queer Eye) and this Friday I perform in person for Festival UnBound. Very much looking forward!
The thorn is the insanity happening in the US at this time. It's horrifying. Ive been directly affected in losing work & might lose medicaud which i recently qualified for due to loss of work in caregiving for mom over the past 18 months + loss of work this year due to freezing of fed funds. Plus my mom's
had a setback and it's required more
of my time to take her to a bunch of doctor's offices i feel for her. I feel for me too.
The bud is the travel to you which feels like a gateway to reclaiming farther flung travel which feeds my soul. Oh and facilitating Steer Your Story how to cope in these challenging times. Oh and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer asked to interview me on her Emerging Form podcast!♡
Lots of love, see you soon! So happy you are so fully living into your destiny!
Kristin thank you for your positive support as always; I am glad you are finding roses amid the many thorns life and this awful political regime is putting in your path. We will be dancing among roses literally when you are here on your visit. Roses & bubbles! And how cool the wonderful poet Rosemerry is inviting you on her pod! You must let me know when it airs.
Oh yes to dancing! And yes, I'll let you know about the podcast too
There is so much love and sweetness in these words, Amy. What joy to experience this beautiful life with your daughters, to be so close to their worlds now. So lovely! Mountserrat looks gorgeous, as do you three. 🥰
Thank you Tracey; life does feel pretty sweet now & I am grateful
I think I smiled the entire time reading this, Amy. I am so happy for you.
“And now it is here.” Yes. You are right where you belong, living out your destiny. And discovering so much among the way. Thank you for sharing all your newfound delights with us. Wow, you’ve done so much already.
The animal farm - eek.I would LOVE to roam around there. And ceviche is one of my favorites. Yum!
I can’t wait to incorporate the rose, thorn, bud prompt with my kids this evening. What a lovely way to check in with one another. My kids are sweet in that they remember to ask me, “Mom, how was your day?” But this inquiry goes deeper. I love that it offers us a chance to be forward looking. To see the bud that awaits us. That will bloom in time. 🌷
My rose right now is savoring this senior year of high school with my son. He just wrapped up his basketball season and it’s been so heartwarming to see him grow as a player, teammate and athlete on and off the court. Now we wait to see where next year will take him. Perhaps that is the bud. The next chapter for him. I know wherever he ends up, they’ll be lucky to have him.
My thorn is overwhelm. It just loves to poke me, especially lately. I am in the process of moving my work office into my home. This requires purging and lots of organizing, physical stress and some emotional stress as well. I will miss my office outside the home and I’m a bit uncertain about where I’ll end up next. Trying to lean into this new arrangement, make it exciting to switch up some space here at home for me and know that the work space arrangement I’ll make outside the home will work itself out. Uncertainty is often my thorn.
Thanks for such a rich essay, sharing so much with us and for this great prompt. 💕
Allison, how happy I am this made you smile. And it makes me glad you’ll introduce the prompt with your kids. Paying it forward, yay💗You are certainly cherishing the rose of your son’s senior year. It’s a big transition for both of you. Change is never easy, hence I understand losing outside office space & wondering how at-home office will work for you. Overwhelm like everything else is a teacher. Do you have Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart? She explores different emotions at length including overwhelm. Remember to take time to slow down, breathe & get out in nature. This always helps me💗
Ok, you and I are continuously synched up! I literally started listening to Atlas of the Heart on Audible this week! Hahaha. How wild is that? I need Brené to walk me through all these feelings!
Amy, what a beautiful post reflecting on the journey that led you to where you are now--your destination, which is also your destiny. Throughout the essay, I can feel a deep sense of contentment and joy. You have walked through a rough but conscious path in the past few years, and look at your now! Transformed from the previous 3D to the current 3D. It's nothing short of a metamorphosis, isn't it?
I like this passage: "...here I am, ready to begin again, with a far deeper knowledge of who I am and from where I’ve come. The weight of all that I have carried and the insights I’ve gained about myself, relationships, love, loss, belonging, the gifts of solitude, and the rewards of excavating one’s interior landscape are with me still. They are the foundation on which I find balance and ballast when doubt and insecurity strike, as they will. For that it is only human."
Finding balance and ballast--these 2Bs summarize the daily struggles every human being experiences. Right now, these two seem almost unattainable in the political tsunami we're going through in the States. Reading your blissful experiences in your new hometown gives me a sense of peace and respite. I hope you continue to enjoy your life in Spain and share the joy with us.
P.S. I really love the family photos you took!
P.P.S. I love Sara's 3 questions!
Thank you so much Louisa for these thoughtful comments; I really appreciate all you have to share, and it means so much, your loving witnessing of how far I have come. I do wish you balance & ballast in the stormy seas of the political tsumami in the U.S. The ways in which cruel and greedy and undemocratic (inhumane really) decisions are being made over people’s lives worry me so (enrage me, too). I am glad my account of life here in Barcelona can offer you respite. Know that my heart is never far from those I love and care for across the pond, you especially soul bestie💗💗
What a beautiful ode to a weekend packed with love in your new hometown , together with beloved Marielle and Esteban 🥰 honored to be featured here , and so proud of how far you’ve come, mamma dearest 💕 can’t wait to see what this new life chapter has in store for you!
Thank you Sara, who is all rose, no thorn and so many buds! You inspire me.
Oh, my goodness . . . there is SO much in your piece that I want to savor. And since my husband and I are visiting Barcelona and Seville in early April (first time for me, second for him), I'm absolutely riveted. Sounds like it's a good thing we've pre-purchased our Montserrat tickets!
You will love your time in both cities! Let me know if you want to meet up for a drink in Barcelona 😀and yes Montserrat should not be missed.
That sounds delightful -- alas, I think our too-short time there is pretty booked up. We may have overplanned!
You’ll enjoy every moment I have no doubt😀
If we have open time I'll message you here (with no expectations) :-)
Amy! GAH! I just listened to the audio version and now just read this gorgeous essay of yours and I really just want to sit and have a cup of tea with you and TALK IRL about ALL of it. Where to begin?
I, too, love that in Spanish, there is only one word for Destiny and Destination. What serendipity for you now finally getting to live out your destiny in this beautiful destination where you will get to spend more time with your precious girls.
I relished so many of your words, but this was one of my favorite sentences:
"Letting go of what no longer makes sense to my soul, and opening myself up to a new kind of music." Ah, yes, the continual pruning of our lives, the letting go. I enjoyed your play with and sharing of music, one of your loves, here. I relate so much to this letting go of what no longer serves your soul. How wise you are to listen...
As a mama to two grown daughters, my own heart lifted at hearing the lilt of joy in your voice as you spoke of the happiness of having your arms around both of your daughters. <3 And the photo-the joy is truly palpable in your bright smiles. (and are you petite, like me, too? Both my girls tower over me! They have to swoop down to hug me, their 5 foot mama!)
Thank you for sharing the question of the rose, the thorn, and the bud: love, love, love.
I may ask you if I could borrow it to offer in my workshops. I had a similar practice from my Unitarian background of joys and sorrows, but The Rose is not only lovelier, but I like how it expands on the reflection by looking toward the future through the Rose Bud.
and, oh for the love of animals and those lemurs. I want to bask in the sun, doing yoga, letting my delicious food digest! TOO cute. I got into watching a set of otters whose otter parents have a channel on YouTube- for a bit-your clip reminded me of them.
Amy, as you have shared with me before, I see such parallels in our seemingly different lives and journeys: the interior growth, the external change. The grief, the loss, the love, the relationships. Arriving in new (and old for me) destinations, with our new (updated, evolved) self (s).
My Rose: now that I am back home full time, getting to share some daily life with my younger daughter, supporting her as best I can while she finishes up a grueling Physical Therapy Assistant program
The Thorn: revisiting and wrapping up my divorce details with my ex this weekend (though we are back in a beautiful and gracious, cooperative space)
The Bud: my new life awaiting me after I wrap up some big financial necessities and figure out a potentially new career path moving forward in this, my 60th year
Thank you for sharing your journey here with us, Amy: the Destiny, the Destination, the Discovery (your new Living in 3 D?)
and Thank you for offering us the opportunity to share here with you as well.
OH Amy, I am so delighted in your delight. This, "And here I am, ready to begin again," I loved that line so much. It will keep reverberating in my mind all day. A gorgeous mantra from my wonderful friend. I love reading your words and about your life. xoxox
Thank you Jocelyn. Sending lots of love your way too! I hope life is giving you joy and delight, too. I very much miss being in the midsts of joy-hunting with everyone over at WITD and hope to get back in the swing of our work with Ross Gay and with SCHOOL, where I've had a terrible case of hooky (not intentional, just life). In any case, a great delight has been getting to know you through Writing in the Dark. So glad my words are a mantra for you, too. Beginner's mind--the Buddhists have it right. So much to discover with that perspective.
What a beautiful life you have made for yourself! Enjoy every moment. This quote will stick with me: I will hold nothing back in my effort to live. I will not hesitate to be.
That's right, Vanessa! A quote designed for both of us. I am so happy to see you blooming, too, with the brave decision you've made to create a new beginning in your life. And I am beyond thrilled I get to meet you at CAMP this summer!
Yes! We are blooming in this beautiful chapter of our lives. CAMP is going to be epic!! I was so excited to see your name of the list!
Lovely, family and all...
Thank you Ron
Such an amazing adventure you're on. I'd love to sit and write and drink coffee with a view of the ocean. How lovely! xo
Thank you Nan; I am appreciating every moment!
Beautiful and touching! Love following you here and experiencing your adventure vicariously through this wonderful blog. 😘
Thank you Barbara!, for being the very first to drop in here with a comment and for being my dearest friend over so many rich decades of experience. Can’t wait to visit you in Stockholm soon and for you to come here (possibly for my 65th birthday April 12? Hint hint😀I have space for you 💗).