Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago my mother died.  I can't quite get my head around the fact that it has been 10 years.  In some ways it seems like a short time ago.   In other ways it seems like forever. I only occasionally have the fleeting thought that I need to call and tell her something.  If I close my eyes I can picture walking into her house.  The slightly smokey,(smokey from her fire place - she didn't smoke) yet also flowery smell made me feel like I was HOME. How I miss those visits and the time we shared just the two of us....well often the three of us because Aunt Mary was an important part of those visits.  I am so happy that I got to have her in my life so many years.  And I will be eternally grateful for the blessing of being there for a visit when she had the cerebral hemorrhage that took her life.  We enjoyed several wonderful days doing all the things we loved before her death.  A tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

Every March when I hear talk of 'March Madness' - the NCAA basketball tournament, I smile thinking of her.  She and my Aunt Mary were die-hard college basketball fans.  A couple of years before her death I came on a visit in March.  Mike Stewart, the lawyer for whom she worked, told me that he couldn't believe she let me come during March Madness.  Then he said, "I hope you know that during games, you need to just sit and be quiet while she watches."  He was only partly kidding!

My mother and my Aunt Mary loved the Razorbacks. In 1994, when the Razorbacks won the National Championship, Moma and Aunt Mary were over the moon!  Mary said that she had a dishtowel by her chair and when something nerve wracking would happen, like a vital free throw, she would lay back and cover her head because she was so nervous.  When I cleaned out books from Moma's house, there were 3 books about that championship season!  Yes, they loved the Razorbacks but they didn't limit themselves.  They also had season tickets for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock basketball games.

At an age when many people have given up traveling, those two fans would travel to Atlanta for the SEC Tournament. And they didn't just attend Razorback games.  Nope they went to every game all afternoon and evening.  

If I remember correctly the last time they attended they were 85 and 84 years old!  My mother didn't like the University of Kentucky and their fans.  The cheer of "Go Big Blue" irritated her.  That is probably because UK often beat her beloved razorbacks.  To her it was an unforgivable desertion when coach Eddie Sutton left the Razorbacks to go and coach the UK Wildcats.  

She took great delight in a story she heard.  Coach Sutton had really super curly hair.  

One of the old timers in Kentucky supposedly took him aside to tell him, "In Kentucky we like our whiskey and our hair straight."

Eddie Sutton

 

Moma passed her love of sports to me and our boys.  They all cheer for the Hogs!  The last Christmas we spent in Arkansas, we went to a Razorback game!

She led us in several rousing calls of 'Wooo Pig Sooie'! And made sure her daughter, son-in-law and grandsons were appropriately attired.

My life is full of so many wonderful memories of fun and love!

This photo has nothing to do with basketball but I just love it so I'm sharing it because I think it catches my mother's exuberance with life!

We All Agree!

Each member of our family agrees that Maui is our Happy Place!

George got in plenty of reading time in addition to family time.

I loved every minute of Grandma time with Bella.   

Matt and Scott enjoyed being the fun uncles!  Bella was so comfortable with them that on the flight back to Portland she thought she should sit with the uncles!

In addition to lots of family time, we managed to get in some adventures.  Matt and Scott checked one off their bucket lists by biking the Skyline mountain bike trail down from the 10,000 ft. summit of Haleakala.  This isn't like the more well known sunrise rides on the road. The start of the trail is comprised of an extremely steep trail consisting of cinders and pumice stone.  Matt said that it felt like riding a bike on the moon. 

An attendant at the bike rental shop described that section as like riding through a McDonalds ball pit, with the balls being made of lava rock. The rest of the trail was made up of steep exposed dirt road, tight pine forest single track, and some high speed paved switchback road closer to the base.

Here they are at the summit.  Notice that we are above the clouds!

I felt a bit nervous as I watched them ride off.  A mom is a mom even when she has adult children!

Here's the beginning of the trail. 

Success!  They both made it with only one spill and luckily that was on a non-rocky part.  The fall was into some soft mud, no injuries!

We picked up two very happy young men!    

A job well done!

They also got in some boogie boarding!

And some 1st rate snorkeling at Honalua Bay.  It was so calm, almost like a lake! 

George and I have wanted to go to this bay for several years and we finally made it.  I love snorkeling!

We couldn't pass up sampling mango smoothies when we were finished.

During their 'down time' Matt and Scott  enjoyed some beautiful sunsets on Kaanapali beach!

Yep, Maui is definitely our HAPPY PLACE!

Road to Hana

Johnny and Monica spent one day driving the amazing  Road to Hana.
In August of 2000, the highway was designated as the Hana Millennium Legacy Trail by President Bill Clinton and was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 2001.

Although the distance from Pa'ia  (the designated beginning of the road) to Hana is only 64.4 miles,  it takes more than 2.5 hours because of the 620 curves and 59 bridges, of which 46 are only one lane wide.

Monica is a very good photographer.

They enjoyed all the stunning vistas.

And beautiful waterfalls!

 Johnny had an app for his phone that gave great details about the trip.  They found a lava tunnel that George and I have never seen.  Definitely want to see it next time though!

I'm so glad that they were able to hike up to the bamboo forest.  As I've said before, it's like hiking through a wind chime!

 I know they enjoyed this time to be together.

And where was Isabella?  She was having fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncles Matt and Scott!  She has never been away from her parents for that long before and I was a bit worried but she was great.  Every now and then she would say, "Mommy and Daddy are going for a drive and they'll be back later."  No worries!  

Isabella, Grandma, and Grandpa had a wonderful day together! We spent most of it in the pool or on the beach! We were all as happy as can be! 

Isabella - "I LOVE Hawaii!"

Isabella loved everything about Hawaii!

The swimming pool

The beach

Marriott's Pirate Ship Play Area

Mango Smoothies

Shaved Ice

A toast to Maui....

The playground

 This photo is a perfect example of the only time she was mad....when we told her it was time to get out of the pool.

We tried the 'Ok Bella, we are leaving. Good bye Bella' method.  Surely she would get out when we all did.  Nope.  She just swam away.  It didn't seem to phase her that she was the ONLY person in the pool!

So many times I was reminded of the song, "my belle ami", which says, "You are the child of the sun and the sky and the deep blue sea."  

Isabella is definitely a child of the deep blue sea...or the deep blue pool!  

We got back to Boise on Wednesday morning and John and Monica say that it was Friday before she stopped asking to go back to the hotel!  

Our little Island Girl!  I'm looking forward to many more trips with you!