God Sent Me an Angel

Bella weeding in the Garden

God sent me an Angel in the form of my youngest daughter, Bella. I’m not going to sugar coat it, when Andy had his stroke the world of our entire family turned upside down. Prior to his stroke our daughters were roommates living in Denver. Their lease was up the end of May and as a family we decided it was probably wise not to renew it as we don’t know what the future holds regarding Andy and his recovery time. So now Tess (our oldest daughter) is temporarily living with my mom in Arvada, and Bella has opted to move out to Palisade to help with Andy and the farm. Bella is the angel that God sent.

Prior to her arrival, I’d been trying to manage the farm, my businesses, teach and taking on the role of Andy’s Caregiver. I don’t think I’ve done a very good job at any of it. Trying to give 100% to all these things has left me tired, all the time, feeling like I’m always failing Andy and never able to keep up with anything relating to the property or my business. Luckily, my teaching term ended the same time I brought Andy home so that responsibility is off my plate for the summer.

That still left me as Andy’s sole Caregiver, while trying to manage everything else. Then, Bella arrived. Although she has only been here a few days, I’m already feeling the positive impact of her presence. We now divide the Caregiving responsibilities, I handle all the personal side of Caregiving, while Bella is assisting with all his therapy. She was doing this back in Denver while I commuted back and forth from Palisade, and she did an amazing job. This frees up some time for me to manage my business and the farm. When Bella is not working with Andy, she is helping me around the property. This in turn frees up time for me to focus more on the Airbnb. Good thing too because after reviewing the financials I’ve come to realize the Cottage is too small to support an outside cleaning and management company. Sadly, I discovered recently that although convenient, Posh Cottage was losing money outsourcing the above. I made the hard decision to bring everything in-house and do it myself. As crazy as it sounds, this makes the most sense and will allow me to have more autonomy and connectivity with our guests and manage the Cottage in the fashion I had originally envisioned. As of right now, I’ve brought the cleaning in-house, the management aspect is proving problematic. This component may have to stay the course through the summer and early fall. Once we hit the slower months, I will take back the management and use the data I’ve collected over the last year to revise our business projections for 2026. This will also give me the opportunity to really learn the short term rental business.

Given everything else I have going on, some folks might thing I’m crazy for trying to take this on… perhaps, but I also think it will help ground me and keep me sane. Here too Bella has been super helpful. She is majoring in business in College, so bouncing ideas off her has been great. I’m hoping that between the two of us, we can figure out, learn and manage the various short term rental sites which hopefully will make 2026 a more profitable year!

That notion aside, If I’ve learned anything from this experience it is humility and understanding that I am not super woman. Sure, I can take on all that I’ve noted above, but at what cost? Bella arriving on the scene has totally turned the table and provided me the assistance I desperately needed. What a blessing…

In return, I’m also able to help Bella hit the restart button on her life, working to overcome her own personal challenges and give her breathing room to learn new healthier habits, and work proactively to address some of her mental health concerns. It’s a win win for all three of us! She is amazing with Andy and his therapy and has been a real trouper in the garden and working around the property. She is adapting to our house rules, learning about the farm and adjusting to a slower pace of life (the later being really healthy for her).

With all this… her arrival and help, I’m starting to find myself again and giving myself permission to do things that are good for my soul and help me make time to take care of myself; the latter being a huge challenge for me.

So, thank you God for sending me an Angel!