Shownotes
Feeling a bit stuck or wondering if there's more to life than just work? Then this episode is just the ticket! I had a heart-to-heart with the fabulous Diana Dupont, a woman who traded in her museum curator hat for a life filled with horses, dogs, and so much more. Together, we explore the moment when something inside stirs, urging you to step out of your comfort zone. Diana's journey is all about facing fears, embracing new passions, and discovering that it's totally okay to redefine yourself at any age. She talks about her beloved horse, Blackie, and how that relationship opened up a whole new world for her. It’s a delightful mix of laughter and introspection as we discuss how our furry friends can teach us about love, loyalty, and living authentically. So grab your favorite drink and get comfy, because this conversation is all about realizing that life can be a beautiful adventure if we just dare to follow our hearts!
Links referenced in this episode:
- Support Boomer Banter with Buy Me A Coffee
- Learn more about Diana and her book on her website
- Check out Women Entrepreneurs Over 50: Work Less, Make More, Do What you Love
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Hello, and welcome to Boomer Banter, where we have real talk about aging. Well, my name is Wendy Greene, and I am your host.
And every week we talk about the challenges, the changes, and the opportunities that come with this season of life. Before we dive in, I want to thank those of you who support this show.
If these conversations matter to you, if they make you think, feel, or take a step you might not have otherwise taken, you can support Boomer Banter at Buy me a coffee dot com. I will put the link in the show notes so you can continue the conversation with us.
But that is a way that you can support the work that I'm doing here on Boomer Banter. But here's a question I want to ask you today. What did you set aside while you were building your family and your career?
What passion of yours went quiet? What curiosity got postponed? What part of you thought, maybe someday, and now someday is here. But here's the tricky part.
Sometimes when those invitations show up again, a new interest, an old passion, an unexpected opportunity, fear shows up, too.
Maybe the fear of looking foolish or the fear of starting over, the fear of investing time or money into something that's kind of uncertain, or the fear of what other people might think. So today we're going to talk about that moment, the moment when something inside you stirs and you have to decide whether to listen.
My guest today, Diana Du Pont, built an impressive career in the art world. But along the way, something else was quietly waiting. And when it finally spoke loudly enough, she had to choose whether to stay safe or to try.
This is a conversation about uncovering hidden parts of yourself, about seeing the fear and trying it anyway. So let's welcome Diana Dupont to Boomer Banter. Hi, Diana.
Diana du Pont:Oh, hello, Wendy. That is just superb. Yeah, you hit it. You hit the nail on the head.
Wendy Green:Well, you wrote it, and I am just pulling from what you said. So I want to start at the beginning, which is always an interesting place to start, right?
Diana du Pont:Yeah, absolutely.
Wendy Green:And somehow, Diana, you knew at an early age that you wanted to be a museum curator.
Diana du Pont:Yeah.
Wendy Green:Which is not something that most children think about. So tell me about that young version of yourself.
Diana du Pont:It had to do with the schooling, and I think my. My grandparents, to be honest and speaking, how important grandparents are in our season of life.
They were really involved in my life, and they were involved in museums and my father, too. And so I was able, through their good offices, to go to many museums as a child.
And then I went to a school that allowed us to have an internship in a Museum or to take courses off campus at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. And it was just a magical space. Not just the museum space for me, was just. It was.
So I found solace there in a way I hadn't since I had ridden horses and I was in the barn. That was where, as a real young child, I had solace. And then when I went to the museum, I felt that same embrace. And I just.
And I loved the idea that through art, we could understand ourselves.
And the teachers that I had were fabulous in terms of looking at art and describing how the line, the color, the form, the subject could tell us about where we lived in this moment or in the past. And I really felt it inspiring. And so it started there. And so I. I just kind of went for it. You know, I. I studied.
Also I studied studio art, and I taught myself photography in school. So I was. And I did painting and I did sculpture, and.
But there was something about the social, cultural interpretation that art brought to the table that really engaged me.
Wendy Green:And. And the word solace is interesting throughout your story here, and we'll. We'll uncover why.
But, you know, the solace with your horses, the solace in the museum. And I have to say that part of who you were, too, was about achievement. You worked hard for this career.
You got advanced degrees, you took leadership roles. You had some really major projects. So what was it about achievement that was so important to you as you were building your career?
Diana du Pont:Well, I think part of it, it was built into my family ethic. I think that's where it started. And then the schooling reinforced that, as did a very special family who was like a second family to me.
And they were motivated by the same ethic. And so this idea of achieving was just expected.
It was just like, you do this, you work hard and you don't slack off, and you try to do the best you can with what you were given, with God's gifts, you were intended to do the best you could. And it came out of that environment. And then, as I said, the schooling reinforced, was definitely for advancement.
And it was, you know, in the late 60s where everything was career, career, career for women. And so that. That really was a kind of a secondary major push behind what my family had set up for me.
Wendy Green:Yeah, I can certainly see that. And then also, I think in your book, you were describing how your mother wasn't particularly maternal, and there was some turmoil there.
And so I'm wondering if that also helped shape your desire to be successful in your career or to define the way you defined yourself as a woman, even.
Diana du Pont:Oh, absolutely. I mean, my mother was caught in that generation of, you know, the 50s. The 50s where she married young and she had children young.
And I think she always had a part of her that regretted that she missed out on something. And so we felt that as children that we held her back from. From what she might have done and might have been. And so she. Unfortunately, she.
She did take that out on the children in the household and on my father. Yeah, how dare you put me here. And. And she was such a bright and effervescent soul.
And so I think for her, being tied in the home, as one would say back then, wasn't rewarding enough. And so I think that had a huge impact. I mean, one of the things she always said. And well, put it this way, I would hear it. She.
I don't think she intended me to hear it, but I, Like, I'd be going in to say something to her, and just before I would step across the threshold. And I write about this in the book.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
Diana du Pont:That I was. Oh, my God. Kids, kids, kids. All I have is kids.
Wendy Green:I know. That made me think of that show, Annie. Little girls, Little Girls. I don't know if you've seen that show, but absolutely.
Diana du Pont:And it was that sentiment. And so you go, oh, my gosh. So you felt like you had held her back. And yet at the same time, you know, my.
My father and my grandparents, they said, you. You need to pursue your education. And it was where I felt that I got. My mother couldn't give me. I think she was. Because we were so close in age.
Let's face it. She had me when she was 19, so I think she wanted me to do well, just not as well as her.
Wendy Green:Ah, okay.
Diana du Pont:So when I. I think my father wisely. And my grandparents said, let's put Diana. Let's take her and put her in. In a school away from the home. Let's let her try to find some sense of.
Of, well, being there. And it changed everything that. That one step. Because I wasn't there in the dayto day, and. But there was also that little bit of.
Of I guess you might call remorse, because I was probably doing things that she wanted to do.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
Diana du Pont:Couldn't do.
Wendy Green:And.
Diana du Pont:Yeah, yeah.
Wendy Green:But that was a gift they gave you, and they put you on this path to success and accomplishment and to recognizing how confident you are and how competent. And then there's a horse that enters the story. So can you tell us about Blackie?
Diana du Pont:Oh, he's the love of my life. You know, everybody has a hard horse.
They say that if you talk to riders or even dog lovers or cat lovers, there's that one in the, in the, in the array of animals in your life that has a special place. And my, my childhood horse, I, I just loved her. Just loved her. And I wanted to return to that place of solace, as I had mentioned earlier.
Wendy Green:Right.
Diana du Pont:And that meant the barn, that meant that the side of the horse on the back of the horse, in the arena, on the trails. And so an opportunity came up, job wise that was in a town that is very conducive to the equestrian lifestyle, and that is Santa Barbara, California.
Wendy Green:Okay.
Diana du Pont:Because at first I was going, well, maybe, maybe, you know, I had to weigh the, the location and, and various things about Santa Barbara. And I thought, well, though there are horses here
Wendy Green:and, and your husband was so supportive of the idea too.
Diana du Pont:He was. Oh, yeah. Without him, just, he has been all the way through. He's a very, you know, understanding and progressive, you know, soul. So.
And he said, you know, we can do this at some point. We will return to the world of horses.
So he just kind of set up every little piece, like finding the right place to live, letting me see horses every day. So eventually, you know, I go and, you know, when you're in a new job, you're torn because, you know, you want to put everything into it.
Right, right. But then, like, after a year, I'm going, I'm seeing a lot of horses here and I, I think I want to look, I want to look for one.
Wendy Green:So you find Blackie, who is this very high spirited.
Diana du Pont:Yeah.
Wendy Green:Thoroughbred, who had raced, now wasn't. And you took that on. That was quite the challenge. Diana.
Diana du Pont:Well, I had never trained a horse. My parents had gotten me horses that were trained because they didn't want me to get hurt.
And so they were kind of like, they call them push button horses, if you will, where they, they behave well. Okay. They stand in the cross ties and they, they answer your commands. Blackie. No, no, no, no, no. He was fractious, he was tempestuous.
He was a 16, 3 hand off track thoroughbred, all black with a white star. And then he had three white little socks and he had this kind of seething energy.
And when I went to look at horses for the first time and I finally, you know, I've got to do this, you know, when you say, listen to that spirit, you know, listen to that inner voice, I said, I have to at least go look.
Wendy Green:Right.
Diana du Pont:Well, I didn't cotton to the horse I supposedly was going to try.
Ah, I did try it, but I didn't have that kind of reaction to it as I did to this horse I saw in the same barn aisle who had poked his head out over his. Over his stall door. Curious. What. What's going on? Who is this person? Why is she here? How can I get involved? He was nosy like that.
And I said, and Gary was the one. He said, listen to the. The owner, trainer, seller, who. We were there looking at Blackie. Gary said to her, oh, can Diana look at that horse?
Who is that horse? And. And Gail said to Gary, well, that's the horse I talked to Diana about on the phone when we first connected.
But maybe we thought it was a little premature. And that was where you say, like you. You mentioned, what is it that gets you to move off of your dime? What is it? Well, you.
I went back and forth, you know, should I do this? It's going to take too much time. Can I train him? How will I do my work? How will I balance my work? All of these things kept in my mind.
And then finally, it's a carpe diem. Because would a horse like that come up again? You, you know, you think about that. Is this the moment to do it? And.
And we, you know, I just jumped off the ledge and. And did it. I took a leap of faith that it was the right thing to do. And I've done that a couple times, you know, different avenues of.
Of my journey with Blackie, you had to take a leap of faith. But he was the first big leap, and. And then the rest is history. He changed my life. He changed my life.
Wendy Green:Well, it was so interesting, I have to say. The book is supposed to come out in March, right? March. Do you have the date?
Diana du Pont:March 24 is the official release date.
Wendy Green:It's called Fur Mama.
I got a early release, and it's an amazing story because I'm not typically a horse person, but there's so much more to this story, and some of that is about, you know, overcoming your fear of managing this very large, fractious, tempestuous, as you describe him, horse. But some of it was also, wait, I have this big professional life that I've been really building and proud of, and. And now you're torn.
So how do you balance it? And what's the tipping point when you say, hmm, maybe dealing with Blackie is more than just a hobby?
Diana du Pont:Well, I think that in my case, because I came at him in late 30s, I came to him late 30s, I mean that sort of middle age grouping there at that point, and you've, you've already have a body of work under you and you can take a moment to pause and listen to your instinct. What is your instinct telling you?
And that's what I really can say is that I took a moment to be quiet and listen to what really my inner self was saying, which was my life would be enriched if I loved and adopted this horse. I just knew it.
And I, I also was motivated by the fact that he was so fractious that if he moved like if he were adopted by the inappropriate person, let's say not inappropriate in the sense they were not a good rider or they didn't know what they were doing, but they were young and let's say they had to go off to college or their parents saw, well, that's kind of a hard horse to manage. And I'm not sure I want my daughter involved in that. And so then the horse might get passed down and who, who knows where he might have ended up.
And that was a big part of my deliberation. Gary's too. We did not want this horse, who, we, for us was special.
We did not want this horse to be passed down and end up at the end of the road, at the end of the line. And that was a big part of it.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
Diana du Pont:So all the parts you don't know, they say, well, I don't know this and I can't do that and it's going to interrupt this and how will I manage that? You, I had to put it aside and say, I will, I will figure this out as I go along. And he, he, he challenged me at every turn. I mean, he was not easy.
Wendy Green:He was not, he. Sometimes when I read about what, what you went through, I thought, how are you doing this? How are you hanging on?
And you were still working regular, a regular job and trying to train him on the weekends.
Diana du Pont:Yeah.
Wendy Green:Until when?
Diana du Pont:Until what happened is that as time went on and I kept doing these projects and one seemed more involved than
Wendy Green:the other in the museum, with the
Diana du Pont:museum world, and you reach a point where you go, I can do this, you know, I, I, I, I can do this.
And even pulling an institution that's medium sized into the international arena, which is what I was doing with the field I was working in, which Latin American art at that time, I mean I was doing modern art, contemporary art, all media. But Santa Barbara being Santa Barbara, had a real connection to, I mean, half the population was Hispanic.
So I began working and I had gone to Argentina as a young child. That was part of my school program. I was able to go to Argentina. And so I was interested in the Latin American experience to begin with.
And we started collecting a lot of Latin American art at the museum and started doing a lot of projects. And they were international in scope and involved a lot of partners. And so you, you think, well, I can.
There's a point where you, if you've done a couple to three, you go, well, do I need to do another? And then another. The instinct that you're quelling at that point for me was I had always wanted a dog, too, a Labrador.
I wanted a dog at my side, but I was not eager to manage a dog, go to work with my work hours and leave the dog at home. I was really worried about that. Yeah, for the dog's sake, for sure. Other people do it beautifully. I just couldn't do it.
Other people manage going to work, coming home, taking their dogs out for the constitutional and the beginning of the day and the end of the day. But I wasn't, for some reason, I, I, I just felt for, and for that breed, for the Labrador, which is really clingy. They're kind of Velcro dogs, so.
Wendy Green:And they need activity.
Diana du Pont:They need activity. They're always constant. They, they love to eat. Yeah, you got it, like, three meals a day in some cases.
And so I just, you know, I just thought, okay, so this is like another little instinct, like the horse had been building. And then I moved to a town where it. They're everywhere. And you can do it. A regular person can do it. Okay, well, the same thing happened with the dog.
I had been dreaming I had wanted it.
And so I'd be sitting there, and it's twofold because I'd be sitting in these meetings where we'd be organizing our projects at the museum, and they'd be talking about all the events that go around. I mean, there's educational events, there's social events, there's press events.
There's all these kinds of events that go around in museum exhibition and publication. And so you'd be planning them. But I found myself daydreaming, daydreaming about how to take Blackie to the next step.
Wendy Green:Because you were doing, you were doing competing with him at that point.
Diana du Pont:Yeah, I began. What happened is, is that I started as part of the training, I started doing dressage competitions.
And what the, the switch was, is it managing him in that really cacophonous environment that was very much like the racetrack that Became as. As much a challenge to me as winning. And I. If he would put his trust in me, it was a feeling of.
It was a maternal feeling I had never had, and it was a love and a belief in me that I had never had. And I just fell. I fell for it. And I wanted that same experience with the dog. And so I began thinking of working independently.
It was kind of sacrilegious. Right. And I thought, well, could I. Could I work independently? Could I leave the institutional cocoon and do something different? And would I be safe?
Would I be okay? Would I, Would. Would everything work out? And so that's.
I was at that juncture, and I had just finished a really big project, and towards the end of it, I was just. When I actually decided to leave the institutional. The museum context.
I had finished, as I said, a big project, but a couple months before I had, I thought, you know, this might be it. This might be the way. Because people were starting the independent lane, like what you're in, and other writers.
It was beginning to surface, and I began to respond to it. And that's when I said, okay. So I left the museum on my 15th anniversary.
Wendy Green:Oh, wow.
Diana du Pont:Yeah, it was the 15th anniversary, the day after I submitted my resignation. And I adopted my Labrador two weeks later, Shadow from a shelter.
And she was within night, within an hour of being euthanized because no one had claimed her.
Wendy Green:Wow. Wow. Saved her life.
Diana du Pont:And she and Blackie were like my. Were like my children.
Wendy Green:Your children. You learned about the maternal side of you that you had never even thought to recognize.
Diana du Pont:No, my mother had made it clear that it was misery, you know, having children was misery. And, and that. And then the school. So she. On the home front, you're being told it's misery, right? Then you go to school and, you know, you're, you're.
You're 30 minutes from the National Organization of Women and the battle cries, you know, I was marinating in the battle cries of, you know, third wave feminism.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
Diana du Pont:And career, career, career. And if you were to get married, you were to get married late. And if you were to have children, it was better to adopt.
I mean, this was the era of Paul Ehrlich and the population boom. And we were all afraid, you know, we're going to overpopulate the, the planet. And so I ended up thinking, oh, I.
It didn't occur to me that I would have a maternal side. And as these, these four legged, these fur babies began to put their faith in me and they began to shape my life.
They kindled something in me that I had no idea was there.
Wendy Green:There's something about the way you said that they put their faith in you. You know, that used to be a big thing that I would feel as a mother.
You know, that, wow, here are these little people that are trusting me to take care of them, to try and do the right thing by them. So that is a big part of it and the fulfillment.
So I want you to talk to me about the difference between the achievement you felt in your work and the fulfillment that being mom to these fur babies gave you.
Diana du Pont:There is a difference. I mean, I think there are levels of happiness. And for me, I was happy. I mean, I love to achieve. I still love to achieve. I still like working.
I still like doing things right. I like to be engaged with the world. But I felt there was something missing, and so I went to pursue what. What was that that was missing?
And when I connected with fur babies and I was past, you know, biological childbearing years, at that point, for sure, I thought they awakened something inside that was on a level that's not describable. You feel it's true, it's real, and it's above everything else. It's above getting an award. It's above seeing the paintings on the wall.
And I can't say that isn't exciting. I mean, I love insta. I love designing the installations. I mean, we had fantastic crews, very creative crews with whom I worked.
I mean, some of my most memorable times were working with the. The professionals that are involved in putting the. The show actually in the museum and putting it on the walls and dealing with the color and the.
The lighting and the placement. I love doing that. But the. The difference between that and having an animal put its faith in you, it's hard to compare.
And then I began seeing myself as a mother. I mean, I. I couldn't stop buying any knickknack and kind of whirly gig or anything that had to do with horses or dogs, any books.
I was just a fiend for that stuff. And then I knew that and the fact that I was totally schmaltzy about it.
Yeah, I would talk in baby talk, you know, and all these people that claim that they don't anthropomorph, you know, how could you anthropomorphize your animals? Well, what they are doing, like, I just read a book that I recommend to everybody. It is so fantastic. Ubock and Me, which is a play on Marley and Me.
Wendy Green:Okay, okay.
Diana du Pont:By a French writer and it's about he and his Bernie's mountain dog. And he says, oh, no, I would never. I would never anthropomorphize my dog.
Wendy Green:Never.
Diana du Pont:Oh, my gosh. The whole book is about his love for this dog and how it changed his life. Well, that's what Shadow did to me, too, along with Wacky.
And I. I just fell for it. And I. I think having that identity, midlife and beyond, was a real blessing. A real blessing.
Wendy Green:Yeah. So what would you say to women in their late 50s, early 60s who are thinking about what's next? You know, there. Is it time to leave the career?
I'm afraid to leave the career, but I've always wanted to do this. Like, you knew you always loved horses. What would you say to them about how to face a fear like that?
Diana du Pont:I think what you have to do. It sounds kind of trite, but you have to take that leap of faith, if it's that strong, that it keeps revisiting you.
You have to listen to that voice that's telling you to go and that you will. What's odd is that you'll find the answers as you go along.
Wendy Green:You found the answers and the people you were not afraid to ask for help, which was a. Another beautiful lesson from your book.
Diana du Pont:Oh, bless your heart. No, I did. I had a lot of wonderful people. And. And as I said, I tried to.
Everybody who had touched my heart and touched Blackie's heart and touched Shadow, they had a role in that change in me. And. And to take that gift. And also the thing I found, Wendy, is that in the professional world, of course, we're supposed to be collegial and. And.
And you know all of that. And you don't. You. You develop friendships, but they're not like they are. When you're with your animals, you're with your fur babies.
There is something different, and it's so profound, that level of friendship.
And I would say that if people have a passion that takes them away, sort of from the 9 to 5, you will develop friendships on a deeper level than you ever imagine, and you will define it as you go along. So the fear part is. And once you do it, the thing is, you're so involved in what you're doing that it's hard to be totally afraid.
And it's like you have to keep. You know, there's always something, like, around the corner. So I felt like I was constantly managing something that was fun to manage.
Challenging, hard, difficult, yes, even scary sometimes. Like when, you know, he ran away a couple Times?
Wendy Green:Yes.
Diana du Pont:There were two times he ran away where I was actually separated from him due to his misbehavior.
Wendy Green:Yes.
Diana du Pont:And it could have ended very badly. It could happen. It didn't end very badly. It ended up bonding us even more.
And to have to walk into a barn and have a horse offer a welcome knicker or to have your dog put their paw on your lap there is hard to describe that if you haven't had a human baby. These fur babies are like my babies.
Wendy Green:Yes, they are. And I just want to reiterate one thing, because, you know, when I started this business, there was a. Certainly a fear factor to it.
And I think what helped overcome it, and I saw this in. In your story, was you don't have to do everything yourself.
There are people out there who have more experience or that are interested in what you're doing and want to be your cheerleaders. You know, I mean, you have to find those people, too, I think, to push you along on that new journey.
Diana du Pont:Yeah. And they'll be friends of a. Because this is something you love and you're developing. It's like your baby.
This, this podcast, like your baby, these friends and these folks that lean into you, they're encouraging you to settle for more. That's what Megan Kelly. I. I did read her memoir. I recommend it. It's an interesting memoir about settling for more.
And the idea being is, you know, take the risk that the idea. It took me a while to.
To feel that I could change myself, that I could become somebody different, that it was okay to become somebody different because you're defined by your career. You're a museum curator, you're involved in the arts. You're expected to continue to do this. And would. Would I be taken seriously if I.
If, you know, yeah, she just adopted a horse and a dog. Who cares?
Wendy Green:Well, right. You put away your skirts and your heels and now you're in writing. Yeah.
Diana du Pont:And I think that's a big part of it. If, if women could say, it's all right, it doesn't matter anymore, I can. I've reached a certain level and most by.
By mid age, if you're good at what you're doing by, you know, by middle age, you're going to know that you've got some basis under you. And if you want to make a change and redefine yourself, because really that was in you anyway, that. That part of you was there.
It just needed to be cultivated. And everybody's journey, I mean, it's. Again, it sounds so Trite, but everybody has a story to tell. They do.
And it's so fascinating what people choose to do in terms of the steps they take to realize their dreams. And they're all different, but there's a lot of similarity. And the similarity is, in this case of.
Of kind of reinventing yourself, is that you finally grasp the notion that you can be different, that you can have multiple lives. Like, if I could have even. Like, if I could have nine lives, the lives I would live, you know, and now the beauty of it is I. I'm living in the now.
I'm living in my dream. I wanted a. I wanted land, I wanted horses, I wanted dogs, I wanted nature. And I taught.
I read Thoreau as a child on, you know, Walden Pond when I was a child. And I said that solace there, that beauty there. I wanted it for myself, and I ended up finding it for myself. And so I'm living.
I'm living my mindful moment, if you will.
Wendy Green:That's a beautiful story, Diana. And it's, you know, I'm gonna use some. Tell a similar story at a talk I'm going to give in a couple of weeks about listening for that. That whisper.
It's always there. Yeah, it's. It's wonderful. So Blackie lived 34 years.
Diana du Pont:Yeah, he lived 34 years. And.
Wendy Green:Remarkable. And.
Diana du Pont:And, yeah, I mean, he. For a thoroughbred, because they work them so hard from the young age, you see, and so that it was kind of miraculous.
But I, you know, of course, I babied him. I threw everything at it, and he died of natural causes. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, he had some accident or something like that.
But it was the hardest thing to say. Goodbye, I have to say. And I write about that because I call it the Impossible Reality.
Wendy Green:And your book is a love story.
Diana du Pont:Go ahead.
Wendy Green:Right. Your book is a love story.
Diana du Pont:Oh, it's totally a love letter. Yeah.
Wendy Green:Right. And I think it. Well, I don't want to put words in your mouth. The question is, did it help you process your grief?
Because then Shadow passed away, what, six months later?
Diana du Pont:Yeah, I think I. How should I say it? After the fact. I mean, I just finished it a year ago.
When it takes a long time to get a book out, people think these happen instantly. They don't. They don't. They take time. And I. I think that the reality of it sinking in was seeing. I only saw the. The copy of it. You.
You were the first to see an advanced copy.
Wendy Green:Isn't that crazy? I am so grateful for it too.
I, you know, I was, I was sitting there with my boyfriend and I started reading it and I said, you know, I don't know, I'm not a horse person. Wow, she's really a good writer. I mean, you captured me right away. I would totally. March 24, you said, yeah. Okay.
Pre order from Amazon, folks, this is really. It's not just about Blackie and Shadow, although it is.
And about your transformation and about discovering really who you are underneath the professional you. You know, there was so many layers to this story. It was really, really captivating.
Diana du Pont:No, I really appreciate you saying that. And it was a challenge to write it because I've been writing about art my whole life.
But in a way, what I had to do was I had to become the person, the object of my study. Whereas before I would take an artist and I would study them in depth and where did they come from and what impact did they have?
What was their importance? What did their art say and all of that. And in a way, I had to then turn that on myself.
And it took me a while to, to kind of get comfortable with that.
Wendy Green:Yeah, I bet.
Diana du Pont:And. But writing is be. I mean, it's, it's really hard, but it's also really rewarding. And I think that I wanted to share the impact of what just.
If you just love and adopt an animal, whether you're an empty nester, like, let's say you're in my category, where having children does. Is not possible, or it doesn't make sense, adopt, Adopt an animal. Or if you're an empty nester and you want to enrich your life, adopt an animal.
They will change. Because the idea.
One of the main things that I learned is that when you're in the art world or you're in the achievement world, the achievement culture, it is a fairly narcissistic, let's face it, right? You want to, you want to make this work, you want to succeed, you want this to go well.
But when an animal interrupts, like you've got a plan and they're sick, or just like with a baby, like in your case, you're your own child, something goes wrong, you have to stop.
Wendy Green:Yep.
Diana du Pont:And it was in the, it was in the giving of myself that I received. And that was one of the biggest lessons that I, I got. And I feel that for the world. I feel that. And I do feel the world is changing. I really do.
I mean, I think we live in these kind of dark, dystopian times where everything is crazy and we can't like as boomers like what we thought we grew up and it was crazy. And now we like look back with nostalgia and think that our years were somehow better. It's like. No, no, no, wait a minute.
But when I read books like Ubock and Me, that has the simple theme happiness, how to find happiness and, and that. That can be enough or a new book. I just, just got called when I went to an. I love to support other authors.
So I went to a Barnes and Noble book event, author event over the weekend and I bought Mona's Eyes, which is just out also by a Frenchman translated in English. And it looks at. At 52 paintings with his granddaughter. It's a grandparents story. Oh, it's beautiful. He talks about.
The writer talks about a grandfather's relationship with his granddaughter as they go to museums. And what he's looking at is art that is not agit. Prop. It's not trying to stir up anything other than human. Our human, our shared humanity.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
Diana du Pont:And when art can do that and it can inspire you just as animals can, the world can be a better place. We don't have to be dystopic. And that's. I'm, I'm seeing that across the board too. Not just in books, but culture is often a pre.
You know, it's a precursor.
Wendy Green:Yeah. Well, I am so appreciative that I got to meet you every time we've talked. I have absolutely enjoyed it. I just feel it so easy to talk to you.
You can find Diana and some gorgeous pictures on her website. It's DianaDupont.com and check it out. Like I said, get the book for mama. Beautiful book. You. You'll want to pass it on.
It's just really that good. And I thank you for your honesty and your depth, your.
Your vulnerability and for reminding us that fulfillment doesn't cancel any achievements that you've had. It kind of expands them. It has expanded your life. And you know, I appreciate all that you've shared.
And to my listeners, if something stirred in you today, if you recognize that quiet invitation you've been ignoring, maybe this is your nudge to find what it is that's been calling to you. And maybe the question isn't is it practical? Maybe the question is, what might happen if you tried.
Diana du Pont:You have such a beautiful way of condensing the essence of things, Wendy.
Wendy Green:Oh, thank you.
Diana du Pont:You're a real guide. You're a real guide to us in going through this phase of life. Thank you.
Wendy Green:Thank you so much. And I hope that you will share this episode. If you feel like supporting the work we're doing here at Boomer Banter, go to buy me a coffee dot com.
Hey, boomer:If you like what you're hearing on Boomer Banter, I think you will also enjoy women entrepreneurs over 50 making more, working less, and doing what you love. This is a podcast that is put on by a friend of mine. Her name is Patricia Drain, and you can find all of her episodes at patriciadrain.com so check it out.
Diana du Pont:Success on your own terms. That's, that's, that's where we're at now. Success on your own terms.
Wendy Green:Yeah. And most of all, pay attention to what's calling you. Until next week. Keep growing, keep listening, and keep having real talk about aging. Well.
Thank you so much, Diana.
Diana du Pont:Thank you.
Wendy Green:My name is Wendy Green, and this has been Boomer Banter.
