A Great Year

By Julie DeVilbiss

It’s my birthday! What?! Another one?! First of all, I would like to thank my mother and father for making me, and then my mother for giving birth to me. I was a big ole baby weighing in at 10lbs 2oz. That must have been awful. I’m sorry I was so big! And thank you. I love being alive and marveling at my place in this world.

It has been a BIG year for me. Last year on this day I was in Pagosa Springs, hiking in the Rockies and soaking in the hot springs with a huge margarita and my soon-to-be fiancé. While in Paonia, we just happened to stop by a real estate office and discovered the land that we would end up buying six months later. The plan, as some of you may know, is to move back to Colorado and build our little dream house!

So, while I am here, in Vermont, studying herbal medicine with amazing teachers, Ben will be setting up a teepee on our land and will build a tiny house; just big enough to get us through the first year or so, and yet small enough that he can get it done in a short period of time. Go Ben!

We are almost finished with the renovation of our sweet Texas Hill home in Vermont, and will put it on the market within the next month or so. And then, after he gets a few hits and runs the bases a couple of times, Ben will pack up in the truck and head out west … looks like early to mid June. God, I will miss him! If you see him in the street, or bellied up to the bar at Louie’s Pizza, please hug him for me! But, I get ahead of ourselves; we are not there quite yet.

Today, I woke up to a scavenger hunt … 14 clues/riddles that led me from my morning coffee, out and around the yard, up and over the hill and back again. I’ll post a video. Ben is brilliant. I cried, I laughed, I drank a Bloody Mary in the woods and returned home to a feast of eggs Benj-adict! It has been a glorious blue-sky day.

Spring greens, grasses, and flowers are poking up through the snow and the leaves. The earth is slowly warming up. Even if it weren’t my birth month, I think April would still be my favorite. Maybe not today, but sometime soon, I’ll walk barefoot again!

And, of course, there is the wedding on the beach in Mexico to look forward to this year! What?! Holy shit, mon. Unbelievable! I was just in Sayulita with my Best Friend In the Universe making plans, sussing out locations for gatherings, etc. Of course, we had to try every restaurant and taco stand, and drink as many margaritas as possible just to make sure the mix of lime juice to tequila was just right. We had a blast! I took my first surfing lesson and got rocked and rolled, and yes, I did manage to surf a wee bit. Thank you, BFFITU!

There it is in the tiniest nutshell — a great year behind me, a great year ahead. I am grateful to be alive, to be surrounded on a daily basis by wonderful human beings that teach me, challenge me, inspire me to do better, learn more, be kinder, be softer. I stumble forward, regularly tripping myself on opinions, judgments, misunderstandings, old wounds that still ask to be healed. I want to thank you all for your kindness and love; for being radiant beings and for being a part of it all with me. Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Julie is a sassy, loving, living, laughing out loud L&D nurse studying to become an herbal clinician.