The Marina at Beaucette, Guernsey
I have a good friend from Guernsey whom I’ve known since my mid twenties.
We both had seasonal businesses.
Hers was an hotel, very upscale and family owned in the heart of the island’s countryside only a couple of miles from the sea.
Mine was a restaurant and bar overlooking the west coast where the best sunsets could be viewed from the comfort of the beer garden…
…and the surfing was good.
We would go out in the evenings after our respective businesses closed and frequent the clubs and establishments that catered to the young, hard working, night-crowd,
and the tourists – our bread and butter but a nuisance on the tiny island, clogging the roads in their hired cars and filling up the parking places on the beach fronts.
During the off season my friend would cruise the world for three months with her parents on a luxury liner,
I would take part-time work and walk the dog along the deserted cliff paths to keep Island fever at bay.
Then our lives changed and my friend moved to Malta as I made my way across the pond to America.
I’d had enough of the claustrophobic island life and embraced the big city and open spaces of Texas,
The Dallas skyline
She couldn’t get enough and settled on a densely populated Southern European Island Country 50 miles South of Italy.
We regale each other every once in a while with stories of our blossoming children.
Hers are feline.
Eighteen at the last count who share her garden and the surrounding hills and 20+ who reside at an abandoned rescue cattery and depend on her for food and veterinary attention on this ancient archipelago in the Mediterranean sea.
Old walled city of Valletta and its harbour in Malta
Mine are human.
Four of them plus spouses and significant others and although they no longer rely on me for their material needs they still need Mum-Advice and emotional support from time to time.
We do have three cats though and in the mornings I have to step gingerly through the kitchen to avoid stepping on a paw or a tail as they dash for the kettle to help me flip the switch.
“Cats everywhere….” Hubs says and I tend to agree.
It’s bad enough with three, let alone dozens clamoring for attention at mealtimes I think as I stand back to let the three of them beat me to their food bowls.
When they start bouncing off the walls, which they do at least once a day, I wish I could leap up onto a counter or high shelf to escape the tangle of cat-ness at my feet.
“You’re in the right place,” I say to Magic playing hide-and-seek with his siblings in my closet.
Hanging out on the top shelf.
My friend and I may not speak to each other often and rarely see one another these days, but my cats are a constant reminder of her…
And what reminds her of me?
Malia visited her a few years ago when her ship docked in Malta, and Ian is heading that way later this year.
And Christmas cards from me in far away Texas!
“You don’t send the children birthday cards anymore,” I said to her the last time we spoke.
“They have probably forgotten all about me by now,” she said.
“Never!” I said and we laughed!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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