My Mom!

My mother is one amazing woman! Here she is with Jeri -- two beautiful women! She's in that age bracket when a woman begins to tell her age -- she's 74. She lives with constant pain from a blend of diseases and injuries. She had a shot to reduce some pain in her back before she flew to Thailand for Jeri's wedding.

Actually, she and my sister, Kathleen, were quite the pair. Kath has put up with amazing pain from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis and requires regular injections to slow the pace of the damage. But, they both stepped off the plane in Ubon and hobbled towards us with huge smiles and no complaints!

So, more on Mom... She counts three consecutive hours of sleep during one night as a good night! Truly, it's God's strength that carries her along and allows her to have such a great attitude! Her great attitude includes being able to laugh at herself and join in when her grandkids are teasing her!

She was a huge help with the wedding -- 'took over the entire cake decorating project and all. 'helped with many other projects as well.

But, above all, I want to tell you about her spirit of adventure. She's always willing to try new things. With her age and her valid excuses, she could easily decide to take up residence in one of her many rockers and just skip anything new. But, we're all so blessed because she doesn't!

On this trip, she faced the culture shock of a developing country head on and enjoyed getting to know the people even while she was taken aback by their poverty. She tried new foods (the food the local Thais eat is quite different from that in western Thai restaurants!! -- that's for certain!). And, after the wedding, her adventures really took off!

I only have pictures of one of her adventures. But her adventures included elephant rides, sitting on an elephant's trunk, paddle boating in a river, sea kayaking in and out of caves and coves (and getting stuck in one until the guide let some air out of the kayak -- must have been a very low tide!), snorkeling with the fishes, and ... getting jabbed about 10 times by one fish that caused her to come out of the water with both legs bleeding! (The guide said it could have been some unknown black fish or, more than likely, a baby shark!)

You go, Momma! We love you and we're proud of you!