Easter, Spring, and New Beginnings

I don't have much time to post today. There's so much going on!  Today is my last day working in Admissions at Skidmore College. Monday, I start my new position at The Tang Teaching Museum, also at Skidmore. It is a beautiful and dynamic place, and I am very fortunate to have landed this job at this point in my life. Before Monday, there's so much to do! On my way to my last day of work, I'm stopping to drop off a cake to friends Mimi and Ralph. They are good friends who trust me with their special desserts, even though one recent order was completely missed when I was preoccupied with sudden car troubles, and Ralph had to rush out to Putnam Market to buy a substitute! I was sick over that little speed bump. But, they had faith in me and called for the next special cake for a good friend.  Here's a photo of the cake they requested for this weekend's Easter dessert.

Ralph and Mimi's Easter Cake

The cake was frosted and decorated last night, after I got home from a belated birthday dinner for my brother Steven and me (March birthdays, one week apart). We went to our typical favorite place and enjoyed a terrific meal with my brother Michael and sisters Patsy, Ginny, and Anne. We were missing our brother Dan (Danny to me!) who lives near San Francisco with his wife Suzette. As always, we have a lot of fun just enjoying dinner and each others' company. Such dinners are like a shot in the arm to me, bringing me back to the core of who I really am, who we really are as we started life together, the seven kids of Val and Virginia O'Farrell! It's very grounding. I came home with renewed motivation to jump into that fresh start, to finish things up right in my old job, and welcome the new. I look forward to a lovely Easter weekend, starting by spending Saturday with my friend Jan in Hatfield, MA, and then driving home early Easter morning to spend the day with my kids and grandchildren.  Henry and Peter are at such cute ages. Henry will be 5 at the end of April, and Pete is 2 1/2. Little loves of my life!

So, today will be bittersweet, since I'm leaving behind a whole staff of terrific co-workers (but really, just working across campus), but exciting as well to have a fresh start at age 59 (!) which, even though I've been 59 for two full weeks, seems impossible! Someone seems to have pushed a fast-forward button and we've landed here. As many of my friends and co-workers are considering retirement (or have already retired), here I am, starting over! It's all very good, though, because I am ready and willing to take on this next phase of life!

I hope you all have a wonderful spring weekend, whether you celebrate Passover, Easter, or just the spiritual renewal of nature and life. I am grateful for all of you who stop by to read my posts now and then.

AND... don't forget, April 1st marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog's comment contest, and there will be one BIG winner, to be announced before I walk out the door to start my new job. So, comment a little or a lot, and be in the running to win 12 months of goodies baked JUST FOR YOU!