To my partner and best friend, I hope you have the happiest of birthdays.
Today is Ryan’s birthday! He was born an Aquarius, but since he was 3 weeks early I always say he’s really a Pisces. He’s artistic, sensitive and sweet like a Pisces. Well and, I’m a Cancer and we love Pisces.
Ryan is very much behind the scenes at our farm. You all don’t see much of him because he’s shy and really busy doing a lot of the not-so-pretty things that keep our business running. For the past 20 months his main role has been Seraphina‘s primary caregiver during the day. He loves being her dad and it’s been wonderful to have the flexibility for him to work around her schedule.
At the farm Ryan is in charge of a lot of the things I’m not too keen on. He likes to say he does all the things I won’t touch, which is pretty accurate. Finances, logistics, planning, irrigation and labor, just to name a few. What’s so amazing about Ryan is that he molds easily to fill whatever need we have. He lets me be the creative, the dreamer and one who sets the farm in a direction I envision for us. We work really harmoniously together and that’s rare for couples. I’m so grateful to have a partner that lets me flourish and can balance our individual strengths and weaknesses.
Today Ryan is celebrating with a round of golf at his golf club with my dad, his best friend and our brother-in-law. Ryan loves golf and it’s something he enjoyed with his own father for many years. After golf we’ll have dinner with our friends and family. On Saturday we’re heading to our favorite jazz club to hear Ryan‘s dear friend Jane Monheit sing her gorgeous ballads. For those that don’t know, Ryan is a jazz musician and worked in the music industry for 20 years before becoming a rose farmer. He still picks up his trombones from time to time and hopefully he can find time to play more in the future. Supporting the musicians he went to college with is something really important to Ryan and he loves immersing himself in the music scene when he can.
We have so much to look forward to this year and I’m thankful for our funny, caring and very loving Ryan!
Xo, Gracie
