Today is my second day of SIXTY DAYS OF GRATITUDE to celebrate my sixtieth birthday!
Today, I’m giving thanks for my oldest sister, Claudia.
She is five years older than me and I always admired that she was beautiful and popular! I was grateful for being able to borrow her clothes because she always had better ones! At least that’s what I thought when I was 15! Once, though, I had a vest and she had a skirt that went together well, so that time I felt equal!
The funny thing is that I still like to borrow her clothes and I still think she is beautiful and popular, but I also think that I am too! This Christmas season, when we were both staying at our mom’s house, we both got glitzed up for Christmas Eve in Claudia’s clothes. It worked out great because she could show off two glitzy tops and I could surprise everyone with wearing a glitzy top.
My big sister, Claudia, introduced me to a long list of firsts:
- Lentil soup
- A diaphragm
- Touch for Health
- Herbal tinctures
- Massage
- Decorating Christmas trees with Milkweed fluff
- Montessori lessons
- Sharing our true feelings
- Radical Forgiveness
- Ice Skating Jumps
Claudia has been my closest sister, one who has shared more ups and downs than we have shared with our other siblings. She came to support me for two of my home births and stayed even when it was hard for her. She accepted me when I was having an affair even when it reminded her of being abandoned in her own relationship. She leans on me and lets me coach her with my Radical Forgiveness tools and shares her Byron Katie’s The Work tools with me.
I don’t think we knew how to be supportive sisters when we were young, but we’re making up for it now! I’m getting to know Claudia better, now that SHE is courageously singing her heart’s song. Here’s what I’ve found out.
Claudia is following her heart’s desire to be a Real Cowgirl. Her motto is:
A Cowgirl gets up early in the morning, decides what to do,and does it.
-Marie Lords, 1861
Those childhood summers branded her soul with horses, sagebrush and wide open spaces.
Now she is free to follow her 10 year old’s dream to be a Real Cowgirl. For the past 4 summers, she has worked on ranches with horses. She is doing whatever it takes to find year round employment on a ranch as a Real Cowgirl. She is studying natural horsemanship and is certified Parelli Level 1.
What she really loves is being part of a herd, standing around listening to tails swishing and hooves stomping, smelling hay and fresh manure, seeing wide open sky, and feeling a velvet horse nose on her cheek.
If you want to enjoy an uplifting taste of Claudia’s adventures, here they are, put to music that will touch your heart and inspire you to know and follow your own dream.
If This is My Last Song
Claudia’s Year of the Horse
Happy Trails to my Dear Sister Claudia. May she ride into the sunset, and die with her boots on. May all of us follow our heart’s desire, no matter what it is and no matter what age we are!