Simon, today you are 29 and because of a dreadful cough I contracted while out and about recently, I was reminded of how I felt in 1988 when I was great with child.
I had bronchitis and all I could eat was toast and marmite and my doctor’s only words of solace were,
“You’ll feel much better once you have that baby….”
And he was right of course!
You cried and peed once you were taken from the warm, cosy, home you’d had for the last 9 months, but you were soon snuggled against my heart and staring into my eyes and it was as if we’d always known each other, which in a way we had!
I felt instantly better and relaxed to a blaring rendition of Born in the U.S.A by Bruce Springsteen.
This year I didn’t have a baby to make me feel better but I did have plenty of memories to look back on while I recovered from whatever it was that slayed me for the last three weeks!
Those first two months I spent at home recovering were peaceful and perfect and we bonded while listening to music and resting. I managed to get a tan in the beautiful spring weather, Raffi was in town and we took your older brother, Ian, out for a special treat to meet his favorite entertainer.
At the Easter Vigil, April 3rd, exactly one month after your birth we arranged for your baptism.
The following day I threw my first Easter party…
…and the next time I looked round you were a grown man strutting his stuff on the rocks you still love to climb,
married to Lindsey,
living in The Perch (a tiny house), owner and co-founder of a non-profit company, Window to the Wild and proving that once a homeschooler always a homeschooler!
Simon, you have always amazed me with your talents and boundless energy and willingness to show up to help when we need you…
As long as there’s food involved!
Of course we show up too when you need help building enclosures for your growing family of birds, or to work at conferences, events and free-flight exhibitions…
We have learned a lot about native birds, how to use Square and the whys and wherefores of chickens who do so much more than lay eggs!
Food is also a motivator here, Meeces Pieces for the birds of prey, meal worms for the chickens and a glass of wine for us!
And for Peeves the pigeon?
His perseverance to join the other feathered ambassadors that are part of your resident staff at Window to the Wild eventually paid off. He now lives in his custom box, built by you, on the outdoor mudroom shelf.
Native bird ambassador now!
You still love and maintain a large garden
and, “this year,” you tell me, “I’ve planted leeks especially for you!”
The gourds you grow, once dried and decorated, look as though they belong in a fairy-tale forest,
are just asking to grace a fruit tree or two in my orchard.
Wild blackberries tangle around your property and remind us of England where we would harvest the delicious fruits from hedgerows along the white cliffs overlooking the North Sea.
I laugh at the apt positioning of your strawberries on the outside of The Perch protected from the marauding blue-birds and finches by an agile gnome after your own heart!
You make furniture and hand crafted knives, hooks and crosses, custom chicken houses and jewelry,
jams from over-ripe fruits, sour dough bread, cookies and balm made from cottonwood tree buds and fragrant oils,
to ease the aches and pains from hammer blows and standing over a hot fire too long.
You never ceases to amaze me with how far your education has taken you.
“Coal burns much hotter than charcoal and wood,” you told me one day.
“I know,” I said, remembering the pungent smell of my grandmother’s cellar where the mountains of black gold were stored for the fires upstairs.
“I can now raise the temperature of my forge to make things like this…”
An exquisite piece of art that will neither wither nor die.
Naturally Pops and I decided to buy you a larger anvil than the piece of railroad track you were using.
We found a 3oo pounder and had to ask for your help. Some surprise huh?!
“Now you can do some serious blacksmithing,” I said.
“And make sure you keep that viser down and the leather apron on,” Pops cautioned as we hefted it into the back of your van.
It now stands in your workshop ready to reverberate and ring out loudly.
Simon, the McNeny name has come to mean many things like, extraordinary, reliable, talented, contraire, unique, caring, unusual, faithful, resilient and brave.
We do things The McNeny way which may smack of the maverick,
We are bound by our ethics but not always by rules.
Your veins course with the blood of God loving, artisans, farmers, hunters and gatherers,
Cooks, tailors, entrepreneurs and fearless leaders,
Writers, inventors, educators and lovers.
When Bruce Springsteen belted, Born in the U.S.A, 29 years ago, he reminded us so eloquently that we are playing a game with no frontiers.
Your imagination is all that binds you.
I love you more each day as you grow into the man you were created to be.
You make me proud!
Have a truly blessed Birthday!
Mums!
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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