Grateful

I saw my old New York City doorman today and he asked how is my new life running our Vermont family inn. “Stressful.... joyful... playful...Full.”

Saying this I realized how true it is. My life is full. My heart brims with happiness to collaborate with my siblings on a daily if not hourly basis. I love my dog and the fun we have turning strangers into friends on crowded New York subways and welcoming dog lovers to our family inn. Next weekend we throw open the doors to host our 3rd annual Canine Christmas Doggy Slumber Party at the Wilburton Inn in Manchester, Vermont.

I’m on Tinder, but admit it, who really has this much fun in bed?

I adore my New York City downstairs Italian neighbor, Egizio, who styles me, bejewels me and loves me more than any other man. I am so full of love for him that I spontaneously wrote this song on my commute to Vermont last week and enlisted my entire family to record it. My teenage nephews played the drums and piano, my sister and younger brother added hand claps. My farmer brother turned his fruit salad bowl into percussion. We are the Partridge Family meets Newhart, Green Acres and Fawlty Towers. And I love it.

I am deeply grateful to spend so much time with our father who teaches us how to be better parents, hosts and people every single day.

Though my son is getting ready to go off to boarding school next Fall, I will always be so grateful for the four beautiful years we shared as playmates and roommates in our one room SoHo loft. The foundation we created will nurture us both for the rest of our lives.

My cup runneth over with love for our guests who come back and back and back again. Stratton magazine just wrote this article about three of our very special family groups that are returning for their 12th, 15th and 28th holiday vacation at the Wilburton Inn. JP Morgan’s 93 year old grandson, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren are one of the groups and we are deeply honored that our mansion reminds them of their family home.

In addition to our dear returning guests, I delight in the constant tide of new guests who thanks to the magic of Google and Trip Advisor find their way to our New England door. So many guests booked their New Years vacations before even departing from Thanksgiving!

A wonderful artist is bartering a ten night stay right now in exchange for creating two landscapes of the Wilburton. I want to preserve this very special moment, for in the words of Billy Joel, this is the time to remember.

By chance after seeing my doorman, I bumped into one of my favorite nannies from my pre-innkeeping days when I was a kiddie rocker in Manhattan, She took her children to my Moey’s Music Party classes every week for years. We fondly recalled the shakey eggs, colorful hats and my pink stringed guitar.

The New York Post called me The Pied Piper of the Upper East Side. Today I realize that I still am, only now following behind me are not just children, but a trail of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, families, newlyweds, artists, guests and friends in life and on Facebook. My on line community mean so much to me because they collectively have seen and shared each step in my midlife adventures.

I think the reason I share so much on line is that I can not believe how liberating and joyful it is to arrive on the other side of an unhappy marriage. For 10 long years I contorted myself into a being the wife my husband required. I tried to jam my square peg in his round hole and no matter how many self help books I read or to do lists I created, I just couldn’t do it.

I rebounded from my marriage not with swinging from the chandelier, but by plunging into a relationship between myself and the world. “Free to be You and Me” has been the soundtrack of my childhood and theme song of my rebirth. I am giddy to be free. Even though you can’t find the video on line, I loved giving a TEDx Talk on my midlife renaissance so I can encourage other women to leap and reclaim their joy and adventure.

Egizio, my downstairs neighbor, says I’m a volcano. I overflow with creativity, laughter, songs and joy and generosity of spirit. Thanksgiving may be over, but I give thanks every single day for the fullness in my life. Perhaps I’m full because I’m still digesting the inn’s maple glazed turkey, but I think what truly fills me is my gratitude and freedom.

No one knows what lies around the corner. We have a crazy president. A world with terrifying climate change. Terrorists who blow up our beloved cities. Nowhere are we safe, not even at a church, concert, stadium or school. The only life jacket and vaccine we have is to enjoy every moment so whenever our lives are over, we have lived them fully. So I pause on this beautiful (albeit too warm) last day of November to take a deep breath and savor the wonderful feeling of being truly full.