Llamas Are Her Passion

I interviewed a fascinating Baby Boomer this weekend. Susan is a 55 year old health care executive with a big, high pressure job at one of the Harvard teaching hospitals in Boston. But when Susan leaves work, she drives north into another world. She's a LlamaLady and goes home to 17 llamas every evening.

"When I walk into the pasture after work, I feel my blood pressure lower. My seventeen llamas are the most serene animals and working with them provides me a sense of peace and connection to nature that I need in my life."

Like so many Boomers, Susan is in transition. She's thinking now about a three year plan, a transition out of her hospital job (which she loves) and into an expanded llama business, perhaps going deeper into the spinning, weaving and knitting side of her life that she's just beginning to develop.

"The llama coats are so fine. I love just sinking my hands into the fiber! I learned to knit in my 50's and now it's become a passion for me! I was never a craftsy or creative person but I love this."

Susan says she's got more energy now than she's ever had in her life. Her days are very long but she loves everything she's doing. She's survived a divorce and breast cancer. Turning 50 was a wake-up call and she realized that she wanted to "have it all." Now she feels she does. Except for vacations.

"Everyone else is travelling to Europe and I'm going off to a llama show in Worcester!" she says.
But Susan says that when she reaches a point in her life when she is spending more time with her beloved animals, working with them and knitting while she's watching them in their pasture, "it will make me feel I have reached Nirvana."

Susan calls her farm Harmony Hill.