Ramble On Rose

I don't usually write a Sunday blog post but today is different because it's a special Sunday! It's my mother-in-law's birthday and since she is such a special woman, I thought she deserved a special Sunday blog post all about her!

In my ever changing moods, I thank the stars, the moon and the sun, everyday for putting me with Mr. Man and his family. His mother, L, is a gem and she shines and smiles and sings and makes each day just a bit brighter to all who are lucky enough to know her and to be a part of her life. If there was a person that was chosen to have the sun smiling on them, it would be, L.

I could go on and on about the kind of mother she is, the kind of wife she is or the kind of awesome grandmother she is to the cheerleader. But, since this is my blog about my rambling thoughts, I just want to talk about how her life has touched has woven with my life and how I am better because of it.

We have had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and a lot of memories over the years. I first met her when I went to dinner with her, Mr. Man and Senior Mr. Man when Mr. Man and I were newly dating. That was in 1985. We have had a lot of time to build these memories. To this day, all we have to say are a few keywords that mean something, only to the two of us, and we break down into hysterical laughter.

Favorite Memories and Hilarious Moments

*Shake and Bake hair.(Unfortunate incident in a Reno hotel ballroom bathroom showing me her new haircut and how she could shake her head and it all fell into place. Unfortunately, her earrings took flight and women were flying for cover.)

*Stick Leg Dog Mud. (Neither of us can recall why this is so funny or how we came up with it, one night. We both love the vino, just sayin....lol)


*Flood You Big River (mistakenly being shouted F-you Big River) A Grateful Dead song..L loves the Dead and she loves Dark Star Orchestra. She shouted this to me during a concert.

*Mistakenly breaking and entering into a house that we thought was on an Open House tour. Whoops...why is breakfast on the table??


*Madame Mozart (fortune teller to the tween set...a bit too much vino...heels stuck in steps of deck)

*Serving sticks of thyme to Senior Mr. Man...(we had just become fans of Martha back in the 90s. We grew herbs and didn't know to strip the thyme. Senior Mr. Man had a choking fit. He cursed the herbs and it was a long time before she was allowed to grow herbs, again.)

*She took me to lunch at our fav french restaurant for one of my birthdays. Too much french champagne meant that we had to sit at the restaurant an extra long time.

*We were banned from our bridge group.

*Covert operations a.k.a. The Big Sting

*Ice skating after too much hot buttered rum. Not a great idea the next day when you wonder where all of the bruises came from.

*Being removed from the beginner ski group and moved to the advanced group. We were very proud of ourselves. We crashed and burned but our instructor told us we had good form!

*Stairway surfing (top secret stuff)

*Running in heels. (James Taylor/Carole King...wrong drop off point for limo..running to get to the entrance. Four inch heels can put a damper on the run)

These are just a few highlights of the fun we have shared over the years. She loves life, she's a dulcimer strumming/keyboard playing/musical genius. She sings, she dances, she kayaks, she backpacks, she decorates her kayak with Dead stickers and Ramblin' Rose is her backpacking name.

She is one in a million and someone that I know I can go through life with in fits of laughter and tears of joy and sorrow. We can raise our glasses of wine and we can clutch mugs of coffee and always find something to talk and laugh about.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful L!!! You mean the world to me!!