By LIZ MARCHI
Fall has arrived and we are preparing the ranch for winter. We downsized this year but the plan is to ranch until the end. I am good with that. It’s an amazingly beautiful place.
As we move on in the season of ageing, Jon and I ask ourselves three questions: What is change you can get excited about, what change could you live with and what change is unacceptable to you? For Jon, not having cows and land is not acceptable. For him it represents freedom. I love that passion.
I was recently in Missoula with some great women and someone asked what’s your passion? I hadn’t been asked that for years because to most, it was evident. My passion has truly changed. Health and wellness, self-care has become deeply important to me. The well being of my family and time connected to nature: may garden, hiking, being outside are my drivers. I am less “busy”, enjoying sleep and having some space to be spontaneous. I enjoy my work but it no longer defines me. That’s a good place to be.
Jon’s Passion.
So seasons change and how fortunate we are in Montana to enjoy the golden sunsets of fall, the crisp air and the beauty of new snow on the mountaintops. So it is in our lives. I am spending this weekend repainting my She Shack in the barn. It’s a steely gray and I am continuing to declutter my work life. My color is changing from robins egg blue to a gray fieldstone: it’s calming, quiet and a quiet background for work.
One of My passions.
So grateful for seasons. May we do them well and with a deep appreciation for tis journey.
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Liz Marchi lives on a ranch in Polson, Montana with her husband Jon. She is the Fund Coordinator for the Frontier Angel Fund and spends a lot of time thinking and learning about entrepreneurs, the economy and Montana’s unique place in the world. She has three daughters and a stepson and daughter and a grandchild. She graduated from Hollins College and is entering the final quarter of life…unless we go into overtime.