The past couple of years have seen me scrambling to find a place to live with my precious animals and companion, Jer; then working so hard to be able to buy this property with a huge balloon payment that came due last month (and we were able to get a mortgage through the bank when it seems that was an almost impossible feat); taking my Mom to the hospital and staying with her then bringing her here to care for her for 6 months; getting county approval to put a second home on our property then selling her place so she and my brother could move here (he & I care for her together); running water lines, getting the septic tank, setting up the foundation for her home with Jer doing most of the work - building a ramp & porch & taking her Dachshunds into consideration!
Then, last month, Jer fell unloading hay and broke his hip! I stayed with him in the hospital & he had surgery to pin the bones back together. Now I care for him (no weight on the left hip/leg for even 17 more days!), do the yard work, run the stable, teach the lessons, write articles for magazines, fix everyone's lunches, help them take showers, feed the dogs & horses, get all the groceries & feed, check on & help my Mom through the day, water all the plants, animals, etc. and try to keep the house clean.
I wouldn't have thought I could keep up with so much. It all comes, not at the end of years of rest and relaxation, but after a year and a half of living on a friend's farm to care for her animals (& her) while she faced terminal cancer. And after several sessions of caring for a friend and her Kennel business while she had knee surgeries. And after a year in Arizona (in 2007/08) where I volunteered and worked with Jer at a Horse Rescue and later worked on an organic herb farm commune. I work. All the time.
And the way I cope with being almost a machine some days is to settle into my deep Buddhist roots and know that in service is rest. In giving is satisfaction. In love is truth and in meditation one can clear all disappointment and fear. I feel so very useful!
