It's Twins!!
Our Cashmere herd has grown by two. A boy and a girl! Such fun in the barn today. Nanny and kids are doing well!
A mother's touch...
It's universal, the awe of creation. A miracle everytime...
So, this is the Breakfast Buffet!
Hello. Have we met?
Big brother is dying to know what all the fuss is about!
All tuckered out, napping under the heat lamps...
Welcoming these new little ones is always the highlight of our farming endeavors. Their satiny coats and wobbly first steps, floppy ears and baby bleats make all the manure-hauling, fence-mending, 7-days a week feeding, hoof-trimming chores of the past year so very worthwhile!
Hours slip by, unheeded, as we watch the kids take in their brand-new world. It dawned on me just moments ago, that for whole chunks of time this day cancer hasn't crossed my mind, nor spoiled the joy... These kids are my therapy for today!
Mom and I talked often about ways to cope with the brutal reality of her pancreatic cancer, both physically and emotionally. Being given a terminal diagnosis is like having sandbags slung around your neck, weights tied to your feet all the while standing on the edge of a very slippery slope into despair.
We struggled with the coping everyday - and many nights...
We didn't find a magic formula, but we did come to realize that coping means different things for each of us. Mom loved to travel, and she loved the symphony. The coping was so much easier when she indulged in her loves. Even when she became too weak to travel or attend the symphony, she listened to her favorite symphonic harmonies and took great pleasure in sharing stories of past trips. Cancer would loose it's bitter hold during these brief respites.
For me, it's the farm and the animals. Like today, while I reveled in the adorable antics of the new kids and ruffled coats of silk. There was simple pleasure in the time spent soaking up the exuberance of new life. Cancer took a back seat, if just for a little while.
Pancreatic cancer can limit our ability to do the things we love, but giving them up isn't an option. Finding ways to indulge our loves is so vital. Whatever it is that brings you joy, opens your soul to happiness - that can be the means to coping with cancer for you.
Cancer weighs us down enough. Every now and then I wake up to the fact that cancer is consuming my life minute by minute. And I imagine yours too. So, I'm giving myself permission to just wallow in the soul-satisfying, honest-to-goodness charm of this sweet face for a little bit longer... Join me!
May your weekend be filled with simple pleasures. Go indulge your loves...
Always in Grace, Jane
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