My Story.
Hello and Welcome! I'm Jude.
​
Grab a coffee or beverage of choice. Maybe a snack.
My story is a bit lengthy.
​
I was inspired to create this blog a year after a serious horse-riding accident flipped my life upside down. Two weeks before turning 60, I was in the hospital with multiple breaks and bruises, realizing my life’s passion for riding and caring for horses had come to an end.
Despite the horrors I experienced, I also discovered incredible blessings I would never have had without that event.
The unexpected and uninvited happen. Life will throw us off track.
It's what we do in response that matters.​
During that year of loss and healing, I realized many women my age often found themselves at crucial crossroads. To make matters worse, this is the season of life we thought we’d have everything figured out!
One moment, we're fine. Then suddenly, we are at a dead end, staring at a stop sign, navigating a sharp turn, or stuck in fog. Frozen. Not sure which way to turn.
Or whether to turn at all.
Ever been there?
​
Well, that was me. Lost. Hurt. SUPER discouraged. All while trying to breathe without pain and walk without fear of falling.
I was in pain, physically and emotionally. Restoration came, but it took time. In bits and pieces, one step up, two steps back, over and over.
It took intentionality and self-awareness.
And A LOT of physical therapy.
My lifestyle and passions all centered around "the horse world." Owning, riding, caring for, and loving them was my day-to-day. Many friends and some family lived the same lifestyle. Now, I had to face hard facts and make tough decisions about what would be next for me.
I was staring at a blank slate at sixty years old. But what did it mean? What was I going to do now? Horses had defined me for decades. They were my heart.
A voice inside said it was time to pull the plug. The inherent risk of riding horses no longer held the attraction it once did. Things had changed, partially because of physical damage and partially because something had changed in my heart.
My age begrudgingly affected my healing and the decisions I was forced to make. While humbling and a bit humiliating, facing those truths unearthed surprising gifts and showed me important personal truths.
The injuries I sustained, while not life-threatening, left continuing health issues. Getting and staying in shape, pursuing emotional and spiritual strength, and enjoying a purposeful life are my priorities.
Talk about starting a new chapter; I am writing a whole new book!
In my early search for inspiration, direction, and hope, when all I could do was rest between therapies, I found most blogs for women my age focused on fashion and beauty.
Looking good is great, and Lord knows I could certainly use all the help I could get with fashion! Besides, recuperating for a year packed on pounds and seemingly accelerated the aging process. The mirror can be brutal.
But that wasn’t what I needed.
But it IS what inspired Silver Routes and Linings.
This blog is intended to address how we feel and want to feel on the inside. I can’t and don’t want to defy my age, and I refuse to grieve for yesterday's youthful years.
We can’t go back.
We can go forward.
We HAVE to keep going.
​
I intend to embrace the next stage of life and every day with awareness, acceptance, understanding, and joy.
Sitting around a bonfire or a table, enjoying cocktails or coffee, discussing and contemplating always leads to epiphanies and laughter. Talking out our trials and tribulations. Discussing truths and lessons, the real-life raw stuff, like asking hard questions, can help us find answers.
It’s always helped me to share with people on similar paths. Sharing lightens the loads we carry, sheds light on our paths, and helps spark flames in each other. I believe wholeheartedly some of us were created to be "sharers" because we are meant to help heal the hurting in this world.
The gifts I found since the accident are profound. A door slammed on the world I once loved dearly, but the doors that open continue to amaze me. I have hope and peace I never would have found had I not hit the ground that day.
The impact of my accident and changes I went through led me down many paths. I needed to find meaning or understand why this had happened to me. Ultimately, that seeking led to one source. Only one explanation kept making sense. Only one answer brought me to a place of peace and understanding. Hitting the ground and breaking my bones helped me find the One person who could, would, and did, in the end, put me back together. My accident led me back to God and helped me find faith again, stronger than it had ever been.
As I learn to accept new things, like the silver in my hair, I am also learning to navigate new routes - ones that have led to beautiful Silver Linings.
My Silver Lining came from a horrible, life-changing accident. One that also taught me more about myself than I could have learned any other way. It illuminated gifts, strengths, and resources I now tap into regularly to give me strength, hope, understanding, and peace.
If you find yourself on a similar road looking for company or need a lamp to help light the way, pull up a seat! I have candles, flashlights, and plenty of extra matches and batteries!
