Counting My Blessings…

Today is my birthday. I am the wondrous age of 53. Today I am counting my many blessings.

First of all, there will not be a birthday or an age that I “dread”. Some people dread turning a certain age and getting older. I have two amazing role models that have shown me that is futile. My maternal grandmother lived to be 97 and lived on her own, after my grandfather passed, up until a few years before her own passing. My paternal grandmother is still with us and doing well and we just celebrated her 91st birthday in January. I recently “reminded” her how to knit as she wanted to pick it back up again. It was beautiful to watch her arthritic hands “remember” where to place the needle and yarn, those beautiful hands that taught me to knit some 46 years ago. I am so very blessed to have these two women as my grandmothers.

Unfortunately both of my grandfathers have passed and I miss them dearly. They both taught me so much and I have so many great memories.

Grannie and Papa at one of their weekly dances. I loved watching them dance.

Grandma Verne and Papa Andy. I can hear him call me kadiddlehopper right now.

I am also blessed with the best parents, sister and her family, aunts, uncles and cousins. I love them all so much.

And of course my life would be so empty without the mischief of Mr. Bentley.

I am truly blessed to be living my dream. It is still sometimes hard for me to believe that I get to design for the best yarn company on the planet, with the best team on the planet. It’s that crazy time of year when we are getting ready to launch a collection, we just photographed the next Fall/Winter collection and I am working on the first two pieces of the following Spring/Summer collection. Crazy good! Also becoming a part of the incredible knitting community is such a blessing. It is such a joy to share my passion with such amazingly creative people.

There are so many more blessings to count – my friends, my health, etc. As I reflect this morning, I am reminded that I need to continue to focus on having more balance in my life. I need to spend more time with family and friends. I need to spend more time on my physical, mental and spiritual health. Finding balance hasn’t always been easy for me as I have an obsessive personality (knit, knit, knit or golf, golf, golf) and I am also a homebody and require a lot of alone time. This is what I will strive for this year – more balance in my life.

Some of my amazing Sistas!

This is me at 53. I look pretty happy, don’t I? That’s because I am.

Lots of love,

Shellie