So I knew that being in Wyoming, for my son’s wedding last week, would provide me with content for this week’s blog post. Boy you have no idea how much I could write about. : )

But I have this great story about an amazing woman that I’d like to share with you.

For those that don’t know my. mom she is a very active older woman. I won’t give away her age but she is way past retirement age and yet she is still working! After a long career at a major industrial company my mom retired and then promptly returned to the workforce. She became a school lunch lady and was able to serve lunch to her own grandchildren all the way up through their graduations from high school. She became the wicked cool “Grammy Richard” to a large group of my children’s friends. Everyone knew Grammy Richard and she was always greeted with a chorus of cheers in the lunch room or whenever she showed up at sporting events or school activities. She is now serving lunch to her great grandchildren who are in middle school! Outside of a daily work schedule she is also extremely physically active. She walks every day. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, no matter the weather, she walks, sometimes miles and miles a day. She is also an avid golfer and trust me when I say my mother doesn’t play golf for fun. She plays to win. Either in the actual scoring of the game or because she has buried you sprinting across the greens. Don’t even suggest that she ride in a cart. Carts are for old people. She is a tiny little powerhouse, at around 5’4” and as fit and healthy as any 20 year old. So when I learned my son and future daughter in law had planned several hikes as part of the wedding week festivities in Grand Teton National Park I knew Mom was going to make me look bad.

The family that assembled for Tristan and Kayla’s wedding were divided into two groups. Obviously all of the younger people were “the kids” and those of us that tended more toward middle age or above called ourselves “the maturists.”

Out on the hiking trails the majority of us “maturists” were content bringing up the rear of our party of 22 hikers. The “kids” were strongly in the lead. On our end of this long snaking train of people there were frequent stops for air. Altitude is no joke! On the kids end there were stops at overlooks where they took photos and waited for the maturists to catch up. Among their number was my mother, Grammy Richard. Every single time I finally arrived at where the “kids” were waiting for us there was my Mom. “You ok?” she’d ask me as I gasped for air, hands on my knees. “Where have you been?”

She would then happily tell me all she had learned about every member of the bridal party. Did I know that Lexi owned horses? That Kate was a school teacher? The twins were adorable, and John, he is such a sweet kid. She was becoming that wicked cool Grammy Richard with another whole group of kids. With each and every stop I realized that while I was struggling along at the back, gingerly stepping over roots and rocks, trying not to break a hip, my mother was chatting up a storm as she hiked up the side of a mountain or two with kids nearly 60 years younger then herself! In fact the photo above was taken at one of those stops. The kids had waited for us to catch up and when satisfied that all the maturists were still alive they started off again, with my mother among them!! As she made her way off down the trail with the kids, she turned around to wave at me! How cute!

Day 2 of our outdoor excursions found us hiking around Jenny Lake. This can be an 8 miles hike around the entire lake. However the kids had decided that we would only hike half way and then take the boats back to the parking lot. The kids, with my Mom among them of course, in the lead. The maturists bringing up the rear. The plan was to finish this hike by noon as the kids had a river rafting excursion planned that they had to get too.

At noon, still deep in the woods, no where near the boats and after multiple stops waiting for the maturists to catch up, the decision was made that the kids could no longer keep waiting for us. Tristan had called the rafting place and asked if they could be late. In short he was told no. They couldn’t arrive any later then 15 minutes from their appointed time. With a bunch of expensive tickets already purchased the decision was made that the kids would press on ahead of us. Basically abandoning the maturists to our fate in the wilderness of Grand Teton National Park.

This was the last picture we took of the kids before they headed off. If you look closely you’ll see Grammy Richard right in the front of the group, with her white baseball hat on. Living life large and having a blast! That was all about to change when I had to tell her she couldn’t continue on hiking with the kids.

As the kids headed off down the trail I had to holler at her from my end of the bridge. “MOM!!” she turned around and waited for me to catch up. “Mom the kids are going to go on ahead because they have to make it to the rafting place by 1:30, so you are going to have to stay with us.”

“I don’t want to walk with you.” she hissed at me. She was literally seething with frustration.

“Why?” I asked her. She rolled her eyes at me and then leaned in. “You walk to slow.” She whispered. Oh my goodness she is adorable. When she saw I was amused by this she said to me “Don’t say anything to any of the others.” Before the day was over I had not only told all of the other maturists but I had also texted it to the kids up ahead of us on the trail! And now I’ve written it in a blog post!! Sorry Mom! But do you know why I’m telling everyone? Because how many people have an amazing mother like I do? Fiesty and full of life and strength!! She is an amazing example of how if you take care of your body and stay active you can live well and strong into your later years. I wish I was as strong as her.

After she realized she had no other options, that she was going to have to walk with the maturists, she just stormed off down the trail. This is the picture I took to send to my sister. I wanted to make sure I had evidence that Mom was being stubborn and striking out to hike alone.

For a while I tried to keep up with her, but honestly I couldn’t. I lost sight of her and texted my sister. “There’s a possibility I have lost Mom.” Every time I crested a hill or rounded a curve I would snap a photo of this little white dot far off in the distance. In one photo in particular there is a vast deep crevice between us. I would text these photos to my sister. “This is your mother!!”

Now Mom will say she was never in any danger, that there was another group of hikers ahead of her, so she wasn’t alone, but from my spot back on the trail I did not know that. It wasn’t until Tristan texted me that they had just spotted a bear with cubs on the trail about 10 - 15 minutes ahead of us that I became worried. Mom was ahead of me somewhere and she did not have bear spray. At that point I told Craig he needed to get ahead of us and try to find her. So there we were, the maturists, stretched out in a long line of individuals, with the oldest one of us in the lead, followed by Craig and Kayla’s uncle Al, trying to find my mother, and then the rest of us with our bad hips, backs, knees and feet trying desperately to finish this hike so we could go home!

Mom was finally stopped by a moose. Tristan had texted that there was a moose on the trail ahead of us. The kids had gotten by it as it stood chomping on the vegetation above the trail. But then it walked down the hill and on to the trail proper and now it was headed straight for us. I hollered this information ahead to Craig and Al, who I could just see ahead of me. I then turned around and walked back to the straggling maturists so that they would know there was a moose on the trail. Just as we all rounded a corner we came upon a cluster of people all stopped, phones out, taking pictures of this bull moose standing on the trail. And there was my mother!!! She was safe. Again she stressed to me that she was fine. That I was over reacting. She probably felt that way, but she wasn’t the one that would have to explain to my sister how I had let her go off hiking alone! Clearly we were looking at this situation from two different perspectives.

Eventually the moose meandered off the trail and we were able to get past it. Mom didn’t get to far ahead of us again because we had made it to the dock where the boats would take us back to the parking lot. I was exhausted! Mom, on the other hand, looked like she could have continued on for the remaining 4 mile hike around the lake. As all of us sat down in the boat I watched her. She was so full of life and energy. She was laughing at the wind and rain as we sped across the lake. Kayla’s uncle Pete was getting drenched by spray coming up the side of the boat. We were all cold, tired, sore and wore out….except for my Mom! As we all struggled to find our way from the boat dock into the parking lot (believe it or not we managed to get lost in the parking lot and had to call Tristan for directions!) I’m sure we made a scene! This group of four middle aged couples all showing signs of aging followed along by this spry, super energetic, clearly in command of all her mental faculties, older lady!!! This is where my mom would say “Don’t call me old!”

I am very lucky to have her for a mom. She truly is the coolest!!