Satinvi’s my mom. She should get a million credits just for that. I was never hugely rebellious. I mean, sure, I rolled my eyes and “forgot” to do chores. I was late for curfew once or twice and I frequently got myself into weird pickles. But I think she raised a good kid. I don’t know, maybe I’m partial.

She sees the humor in things. Mom has a quirky sense of humor, which is evident in her and Dad’s DVD collection and in her blog. She has taught me to laugh at life and at myself. I mean, if you can’t laugh at yourself, then life’s boring, right? A classic family memory comes from when I was very young, three years old, I think. Mom came downstairs one morning, opened the fridge and noticed a chocolate cake was missing. She walked into the bathroom, flipped on the lights and caught me brown-handed on the floor, face covered in chocolate. I’d been learning in Sunday School that Jesus lives inside of us, so when she asked, “What are you doing?” I turned my goopy chocolaty face to her and said very sincerely, “Jesus was ‘harungry.’” She could very well have been furious with me and given me a spanking to remember. But instead, she said, “Well, I think Jesus has had enough,” and tried not to laugh in front of me. There’s enough in life to be serious about. Thanks to her I’m not overwhelmed by it.

Mom’s a take-charger. Our area was rather unfortunate in Girl Scout leadership. My friend and I troop-hopped a lot until Mom finally had enough and just started her own troop. She did a fabulous job of it – even taking four junior high girls on a road trip from Michigan to Missouri to visit Silver Dollar City. She’s brave, too! Just on the way down, one girl got carsick and puked in another girl’s hair. They both lost their lunch at a rest stop. Then when a man was eyeing us at the rest stop, she herded us in the car and took off, keeping an eye out for him the whole rest of the day.

She’s compassionate. She’s been a mom to most of my friends – and I’ve had quite the array of friends! She’s never judged a single one of them for their lifestyles or choices. She just loves them, feeds them, gives them a hug, picks them up from the train station, drives them places, and always makes sure they have a place to sleep, whether it’s a guest bed, couch, blow up mattress or a tent.

My Mom is one of the strongest people I know. I may have to help her open the occasional jar, but I have nothing on her when it comes to strength of character. For ten years she was a Navy wife. Dad would be away for weeks at a time on the submarine, and when other women eventually backed out for one reason or another, my Dad always knew he had a loving wife to come home to. More recently, she lost her job, caught in the crossfire between various people, shortly after losing her father and at the same time as our family was seen out the door of our church. Feelings of hurt and betrayal could have kept her down, but they didn’t. She grieved. Then she traveled. Mom’s been taking the opportunity to see and do things that work would have kept her from doing. We have a big trip planned for tomorrow and the next couple of weeks – I can’t wait!

Humorous, decisive, compassionate and strong, Mom’s pretty cool. But best of all, she’s my mom! When I scraped my knees, she cleaned them. When I was depressed, she drove forty-five minutes to see me. When I called home bawling because of a bad class, friend troubles, stupid boys, or frustrating grad school applications, she reassured me she’d love me no matter what. Even if I was a failing, friendless, spinster without a high degree. And when life was good, she’d turn up the music and rock out with me, take me shopping, bake cookies, or do whatever else we were in the mood for.

My Mom is pretty darn fabulous. I love her SO much and wouldn’t trade her for the world.

Happy Mother’s Day (a little early), Mom!

Well folks, I just got back from Texas yesterday. TOTAL FUN! I felt like I had just arrived and suddenly I was back at the airport, slipping off my sandals for security. But the first time around I didn't confound security with a crystal cube in my backpack.

I wrote two journal entries on the trip, so I'll copy them down for you and fill in the blanks afterward.Oh, and for the record, "Tutu" is Hawaiian for "grandmother." It is more informal than "Kahuna" and is used for any respected older woman.

Also, for the record, my grandmother is a retired bar tender. So, not to change the subject or anything, please don't be offended by any language!

April 28, 2008
I'm sitting in the Cincinnati  airport waiting for my flight to San Antonio. The plane from South Bend was fun! It was a little bitty baby plane - we were all packed in like sardines. As the guy sitting next to me said, "We need a shoehorn to get in!" I, of course, had my nose glued to the window for half of the thirty minute flight! Fun! Time to board the next one!

4-31-08 or 5-1-08?
I've been in Texas a few days now and loving every minute of it! The first day I met Tutu Linda and Ray and got acquainted with the ranch and its inhabitants, a neurotic chihuahua named Ziggy and a stays-close-to-home cat whose name I've momentarily forgotten though we called for her for quite a while that evening (Noel).

The next day Tutu and I drove to Corpus Christi and soon found ourselves swearing a blue storm at the OnStar system in her new car. "S***! Shut the f*** up! Here, read the instructions!" and a packet of OnStar information was thrown my way. I told Tutu she should give it a name so when she's mad at it, she has a name to yell. She said, "How about Ethel? That sounds like an annoying name. It sounds like she could be an annoying person." So begins Linda and Ethel.



We cruised through Corpus and straight to our hotel on/in(?) Padre Island. We were early and our room hadn't been cleaned yet, so they gave us a handicapped room on the second floor. We got in the elevator, blabbing, when finally Tutu says, "This elevator is slow." I said that I thought it was quiet. We hadn't pressed the button. Griswolds.
The room was nice though the toilet came halfway up my shins. Everything was nicely accessible for the handicapped, except the designer, with a wicked sense of humor, put the hair dryer and electrical outlet up quite high. We had a balcony with a great view of the ocean. Of  course, the first evening we were standing out there when Tutu decides to go back in. "F***! We're locked out!" Panic sets in, it's late, no one's outside, we don't have our cell phones and it's starting to get cold. "Oh, wait. Nevermind. It's open!" Whew!
That first day we changed into our swimsuits, got in the elevator, talked, got out of the elevator and walked down the hall. Dead end. Came back, walked the other direction. Dead end. Came back, got back in the elevator and punched one. We went down. Griswolds.
We laid out on the beach and chatted a bit before heading to the bar. I had mentioned earlier that my favorite drink is a Miami Vice. "What the hell is that?" I told her. "Don't say Miami Vice, it'll piss off the bartender. Just tell him you want half pina colada and half daquiri." We went to the bar. She told him how she wanted her tequila and said, "My granddaughter will have a half pina colada and half strawberry daquiri."
"Oh, a Miami Vice?"
"Shit."
I just laughed.

I met the family and bonded a bit with Trinity who is eight years old and not shy in the least. [My cousin's daughter] She wrote a sweet essay called "My cosin in Michigan."

The next day was particularly windy and was spent at the pool. Chicago has nothing on Corpus wind-wise. Lunch was a girls outing at a quaint women-run restaurant, the Dragonfly. I had crabcakes and my first ever vanilla bean crème brûlée. Aunt Nan was impressed I knew how to tap it with my spoon. All credit goes to Amélie.
We went to their house for a fabulous dinner and I met Judah [my cousin's son], a very sweet toddler who asked for "le baba." (He has a French Grand-Mère)

The drive back to the ranch had our exciting moments of nearly running out of gas (we stopped at a podunk town, Swinney Switch, to fill up at a one pump gas station with the old-fashioned ticker numbers on the pump. It took Tutu three tries to get the car on the right side!) and me missing an exit (we had to call OnStar who couldn't find where we were trying to get to - we settled for Sea World because Tutu knew the way from there, and we had to shut it up again a couple of times).

Now I'm sitting at the ranch watching a deer graze, squirrels frolic, birds squabble, buzzards soar and wind rustle the leaves and wind chimes.

5-2-08
I called Uncle Kevin yesterday. I wasn't quite prepared - he sounded just like my Papa.

5-4-08
I fed zebras and an elk yesterday at a wildlife park. Tutu and I saw a five-legged zebra trying to mate. The female was less enthusiastic and shook him off. Loooong!


***

And that was my Texas trip! The crystal cube that had security poking around in my nicely crammed backpack was a pencil holder from China - one of many beautiful presents Ray (Tutu's husband) brought back for me from a business trip. I was spoiled rotten! After clearing security and catching my flight to Cincinnati, I had a few hours to spare before the next flight to South Bend. I bought a book on a whim (totally unnecessary, I've already started two others and had a third sitting in an Amazon box on my bed at home), and sat and read for a bit before a Japanese girl about my age hesitantly asked if I could help her. She had missed her flight to Detroit and was worried about missing the flight from D-town to Japan as well. She had a toll-free number to call for help but didn't feel confident enough speaking English to make the call herself. So I called for her, was dubbed a "Good Samaritan" by the operator and told to take her to Gate A12 where there was another plane to Detroit scheduled to leave in thirty minutes. Perhaps she could catch that one. No luck. They were full. I left her in the capable hands of an airline employee who was about to head to Gate A11 where another plane to Detroit was waiting. I gave Miss Uchida (I think) a hug and wished her luck since I had to get back to my gate. I'm hoping and praying she got a flight because the ticket was from Japan and very rigid.

Sorry the post was so long! Time for me to continue catching up on emails and phone calls! I'll upload pictures later.
~Toodles!

If you went to High School with me, you might appreciate this. My first day at Grand Valley, I walked past this painting in the music department, stopped, and ran back for another look.




Okay, I can't for the life of me get this sucker to rotate, so rotate your head.




Here's the closer look.



Is it just me, or does he look a little familiar?



So who is this guy?




Do you guys think this is as funny as I do? Or am I  just being weird again?