Circling the Sun~

 No, it's not possible!  That number can't apply to me?!  Well, maybe so...  

A chronical of my life, can be found in the many photo albums I've filled with pictures.  Since the change to digital formats, external hard drives have served the same function.  I have my parent's albums now - filled with images of their youth & my early years.  

Mom, me & Dad - May 1951 Greenfield, IA

I was born in Creston, IA & lived there until March of 1954.  My parents decided to make a move away from Iowa & join my Dad's older brother in Boulder, CO.  Homesick, they returned to Iowa in November of 1956, moving to Greenfield.  

Both my maternal & paternal Grandparents lived either in Creston or Greenfield.  It was the perfect place & time to be a kid.  We went swimming at the pool & shopped on the square.  I took lessons in both ballet & tap dancing.  I started Kindergarten. 

Ten-years old~

Summer of 1958, my family moved to Boulder permanently.  I had a tough time leaving my grandparents & school friends.  I did love Boulder & the mountains though!  It had to be one of the best places anywhere - to live - in those days. I attended Foothills Elementary & started Violin lessons in the third grade.  (My parents divorced when I was eleven, ending my carefree childhood.)  I helped raise my younger two brothers & sister.   

I loved riding my bike & roller skating at Peppermint Square on weekends.  I worked a part-time job at Twinburger drive-in, to earn enough for riding lessons at Green Meadows Stable.  Dad often took us camping.  Summers were spent in Iowa on my Grandparents farm.  My High School didn't have an Orchestra program, so I learned to play guitar.  (Mom & Dad remarried each other, the year I turned eighteen.)

August, 1971 - Shadow Mountain Lake, CO

Turning twenty - I'd been married for two-years & Courtney was a toddler.  When she started school, I took a part-time job as a bookkeeper for Singer Sewing Machine.  

Eight-years later, Jentry arrived.  I worked part-time for a School Picture company.  The girls kept me busy.  I usually had a garden & did some of my best crocheting.  We camped often with friends.  I also signed up for a few college classes; bookkeeping & photography. 

Maroon Bells, CO - January, 1981

  By the time I was 30, Butch & I had been together for a year & decided to move to Washington.  Arriving October of 1981, Butch's native state became our home for the next thirty-five years.  Courtney played softball, Jentry was bat girl!  Butch Umpired the games. 

We managed apartment communities & camped every other weekend.  Whidbey Island & the Oregon coast were our favorite destinations.  Many times, especially in the winter, we'd have the campgrounds to ourselves.

Connie & Butch, December 12, 1986

I soon transitioned to managing condominiums & residential income properties.  I was awarded Manager-of-the-Year for western, WA by the Institute of Real Estate Management - in 1986 & 87.  

Courtney had graduated & moved into her own apartment in a building we were managing.  She & I worked together at a resident screening company, for a couple years.

We purchased the Homestead in 1990, moving to the country 40-miles north of Seattle.

Alexi, Connie, Butch & Jentry - February, 12, 1991

  My fortieth birthday, we bought a chestnut Arabian mare, from our neighbor down the road.   Not long after, we brought home a young gelding.  Butch needed a horse to ride, until Khaz was old enough.  We purchased a gray Arabian mare. The materials he had planned to use for a shop, became a barn.  We rode both Competitive Trail & Endurance.  We volunteered on the Centennial Trail Coalition, working to make the point-to-point trail a reality.  

Courtney married in 1991 & Jentry graduated in 1995, moving in with a friend, shortly after.

Tiring of long hours & longer commutes - in 1998 - I found a position as household manger & nanny for two wonderful kids!  Close to home with flexible hours, I had more time for the horses.  I was with the family for almost ten-years & missed them terribly when the kids grew up!

Benjamin, Connie & Jentry - November, 2000

  At forty-nine - I became Grammy!  Daughter Jentry & Chuck, presented us the first of our Grandkids!  Benjamin was born in 2000.  2001, Courtney & David gave us our second grandson Mason,  followed by granddaughter Cassidy in 2003!  Being Grandparents was our most favorite thing ever!  Weekend & overnight visits, Birthday parties, holidays, sports, camping!   Those years seemed to fly by...  

(My only slow-down was in 2003 - when I was bucked off a crazy little mare.  Airlifted to Harbor View in Seattle, I had broken ribs & a broken femur.  Three-months later, I was back riding.)

Debbie, Connie, Charlotte & Joyce, Feb. 2011

My 60th birthday, seemed a bit surreal.  I'd been riding for twenty-years.  Most of my friends were horsewomen & a small group of us met four times a year, for lunch on our birthdays!  

More excitement was soon to follow - when Jentry & Joe presented us with granddaughter Skyla in 2011 & fifteen months later, Josie in 2012.  

I lost my father in 2012 & mother in 2016.  2016, was also the year we made the decision to move to Iowa.  (Chronicled in this blog.)  

2018, I unexpectedly lost the vision in my right eye.  This resulted in a diagnosis of a genetic heart condition; Hypertrophic Cardiomyopahy .  I decided to send my mare Farah - back to Washington - putting an end to over twenty-five years of riding.   That fall, Courtney & I traveled to Italy! 

 2020, I returned to the trail, this time on a bike - completing one of life's full circles.

___________________________

My last two birthday's - I've either been in Washington, or on my way home.  (I'd already spent two-weeks, plus the first six-weeks of my recovery there last fall.)  

When Butch asked how I'd like to celebrate our birthday's - I thought of one place right away!  Glenwood Springs, CO & the hot springs pool.  We lived there 40-years ago (Just before moving to WA.) & it's always been one of our favorite places.

Connie & Butch, Rifle Falls - February 2021

We made the trip a weekend early, to avoid the Valentine's Day crowds.  The town has doubled in size.  We enjoyed talking with local shop owners who remembered the area as it once was.  Now, it's become the vacation destination, for hoards of people from the ever expanding metro populations.

Today - is the five-month mark since the accident that brought me to an unexpected halt.  It's still uncertain, how much use of my leg I will regain, or if the nerve pain will resolve.  I'm determined to get back to doing the things I love. 

With our move to Iowa, another circle of my life, was complete.  I had returned home.  

I'll continue to follow our friend Dean's sage advice - head up, eyes forward - as I travel into my seventh decade ~