vibrant

i am celebrating this vivacious beauty of a mother!




























I wish everyone could have seen her on our road trip to Utah and Idaho. She was in high spirits and full of contagious energy the entire time. She laughs when you call her a flirt and cries out, "why not?" She met these two oldtimer cowboys outside a bar in Ogden Utah. They kept telling her, "Sue, it's a real pleasure talking to you, just a reeeeaaall pleasure." Their names are Roy Bell, on the left, and Eugene on the right and they have seen a lot of living. Supposedly Roy Bell used to play with Merle Haggard in Bakersfield.
























Here she is with her dear brother, Dan Spring. This was a nice visit; Uncle Dan was waiting for us and had marked our visit into his daily log book which he let us peruse. Most of his daily activities consist of raising and lowering the American flag, hourly smoke breaks, and meals which he actually says are very good. He and his roommate Mitch also told us about some activities they've participated in, like going to see the Christmas lights in fancy neighborhoods. He laughed and cried, made funny faces for us and talked a little about the old days like when he built a skateramp in LA for his stepson Jason. He was a real sweetie and even though it's sad to see him there and we wish he could be closer, Mom was upbeat and pleased with the positive vibe of our visit.







Maybe it was the kundalini yoga lesson with her old friend Sylvia that helped her along her return journey to pure youthful exuberance. She is not embarrassed to admit that she's feeling like a kid again and she is game for anything, whether it be trying out yoga or thai food for the first time or getting back to the hotel at 1:30 a.m. and waking me up to give gifts and tell me all about her night!




























She even found a lovely frog at Kayenta and gave it a lucky kiss!




























And of course, the infamous hundred-mile-per-hour motorcycle ride with her original biker-partner, David Wasden. We've all heard the stories about her trip in the early 70s to Tijuana on the back of his motorcycle...well it seems they picked right up where they left off and flew down the road in front of us in the car, leaving me and the kids saying, "Nana's crazy!"



There they go!

And after all, most precious to her are the grandkids. We had such a great time with Jarom, Bella and Orion while Matt and Amy were in Ghana.

Jarom is a real crack up. He sent us into pure laugh attacks with his little wry asides. For example, he was supposed to get two smiley faces in school in order to earn a trip to the roller rink. On the way I asked, "okay Jarom, what are you going to get in school today?" and he immediately retorted, "two holes in my tongue." WOW! how does he come up with this stuff? We couldn't help but go into hysterics.

How lucky to know such wildly wonderful humans. They are the most adventurous, adaptable, enthusiastic kids I could ever imagine, which makes every moment with them unbelievably FUN. One of their favorite activities was making their room into a haunted house with Addie by blocking out all the light from the windows and then growling and roaring and pouncing upon any hapless soul who enters. Another thing Jarom loves in making "magic potions" in the bath or in the sink and then "feeding" them to people to turn them into babies or monsters. Orion loves to send imaginary spiderman webs out from his fingertips to scale buildings, and Bella loves to create family dramas with her baby kitties. And they all love to dance and sing! The theme songs for our trip were the Killers' "Are we human or are we dancers?" and Grandaddy's "Nature Anthem." I want to make a mix cd commemorating all our musical fun from this trip.

I just wanted to post this to say I applaud you momma, for being such a fun and lively and generous woman and for always trying to go with the flow and enjoy every moment of life. And for inspiring others and leaving a trail of sparkling cheer all along your path!