Thursday 4 November 2010

Life is an uphill climb, but the view is worth waiting for!!!




I'm putting two pictures up today, the first if you look closely there is a pointed hill in the background,this is Shutingslow and it's where Trousers and I walked on Saturday. It's a really tough climb, as it's almost vertical in parts. When you get to the top you can see three counties, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire all around you. In the distance you can see the city of Manchester, Shropshire and on a really clear day Wales. We walked up and down the hill, through Macclesfield Forest and and then back up to the car about 9 miles of tough walking.

The bottom picture is just taken a little further over towards the Roaches and again if you look carefully up on the hill, as if next to the beech tree, is a farmhouse. For ten years this is where I lived. We bought it derelict, my sister's family and mine. It was only basically habitable for some time. But we bought it for the views, for the three acres of land, and for the opportunity to give our then three children an idyllic childhood of den making and exploring, and a village school to start them off.

Between these two times 22 years have passed. Some of them wonderful and some unbelievably difficult. We moved into that house, as our Mum hadn't long died, and my sister and I realised the value of family ,so thought we needed to keep us together for a while. We lived in the house for ten years, during which my husband walked out on me. Which caused pain and distress to all of us living there.

Eventually I moved to where I live now, my sister now lives ten minutes walk away.And I got on with being a single parent to my two beloved sons.

Finally now they are both happy and settled. The eldest lives in London and is having a great time there with a job he loves and a fantastic social life, by the sound of it. The youngest lives with me, but has a wonderful serious girlfriend, a job (finally) and has left his life of crime behind him.

As for me, I'm content and occasionally happy. Although at the moment I'm preoccupied with my 5th anniversary of having had breast cancer. An anniversary that when it happens means that I'm no longer seen as in remission, I'm cured! This however isn't the post to deal with that issue, cause I haven't quite reached the day I'm marking as the Big C Cure day, and I know I'll need to write about that.

This is more a celebration of me having found myself. I have a good life, a great couple of jobs, I live in an amazingly beautiful part of the world. I have more or less enough money, there is enough to put food on the table, buy me books to read, to treat myself now and again to a new purse and to be able to stick a bunch of flowers in the weekly shopping basket!

Emotionally I am at peace with me. Not sure how I've got that, except I think it is a combination of having dealt with what life has thrown at me, being 56, and writing it all down for the last three years.

Really I want for nothing..... well ,enough money to travel business class would be good, but absolutely not essential!


17 comments:

Miss Robyn said...

mwah, mwah.. kissy kissy... hahaha

seriously, I love you tons.. xoxo

Zan said...

"Life is an uphill climb, but the view is worth waiting for" - just what I needed today.
Thank you for sharing this post with us. You're a beautiful person.

xx

Cynthia Pittmann said...

It's wonderful that you have such an even perspective on life and congratulations on your five year anniversary. So much has happened in your life, you are a skilled sailor in troubled storms.

Angela said...

I`d love to see all those views! I think you have climbed that hill now, Mandy. It was a tough walk, but you are a trained walker by now (thanks to trousers), and maybe your many blog friends have accompanied and helped you, too.
This big date will hold no news for you. You are healed!!

Spadoman said...

Dear Ms. Fire Byrd... Saw you over at Mel's. I'm over there every day to seek advice from the Fairies. Last time I stopped here, you were telling people that you weren't going to blog any longer and that you were joining some blog that took photographs. I stopped stopping by after that.
Glad I returned today. You have shared some marvelous thoughts and self disclosure with us, the readers. I appreciate that, I appreciate the sharing. And I am happy for you that you feel the way you do about things and seem to have them sorted out. That in itself is a very hard uphill climb for most people. Best of everything to you and wonderful news to hear the illness is gone from your life.

Peace.

Paula said...

The view is breathtaking even when the climb took my breath away too ....

jeanette from everton terrace said...

A beautiful part of the world indeed. I would love to take that Saturday walk, Macclesfield Forest sounds like such a magical place - the whole things sounds good for the soul, nothing like nature.
Success is not the key to happiness but happiness is the key to success - love that quote and was reminded of it when I read your post today.

TALON said...

How wonderful to be at a place in your life when what you have is enough...to feed mind, body, and soul...and all around you is good. Such a beautiful post, Mandy.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

This is a very beautiful post; how many can say what you have just said - that they have enough, that they really want for nothing? You sound so at peace with everything - wonderful. Love your photos and your walk - and life's view is worth it after a hard slog uphill. You are inspiring!

janis said...

so very pretty♥

e said...

Thanks for sharing this, and good for you finally enjoying life and a bit of peace. You are an inspiration.

Sorrow said...

Yours is a blessed life, well traveled, well loved and beautiful, just like you! inside and out!

LindyLouMac said...

A post written from your heart, of life experiences so well written. My Mum Is a BC survivor, so a subject close to my heart.
Now i must go and post on BW, so behind today have been making toe most of welcome autumnal sunshine this week and staying awy from the computer as much as possible.

Mel said...

Graced.

That's it, plain and simple.

You're just plain graced.
And you ain't done being graced yet.

Content is a good place.
At peace....exquisite.

((((((( the byrdie )))))))))

I am grateful beyond grateful.
And oh what a view. :-)

Beatnheart said...

Hi Byrd, Thanks for the visit and humorous comment. Yeah, Neil Young ain’t young anymore.

nitebyrd said...

How wonderful for you! *huge smile*
Enjoy every minute, beautiful Byrd.
(((hugs)))

Carol said...

I really love the way you write! That was a very uplifting post...I'm happy that you have found some peace!

C x