The party

She said she was mighty glad "to be alive at 85." That was while she was seated atop her Arabian mare Phansey after a ride through the horse pasture. She didn't have too long to talk, though, because she wanted to continue her horseback ride across the road to go inspect her hay field, which had been harvested a couple of weeks ago.

So, while Laurie's horse Rusty chased Kiwi out of the barnyard, I watched as Mother, Barbara, Laurie and Jim headed off toward the driveway for the rest of Mother's birthday ride. She told me later that the field has pretty much dried up, but that was of little concern to her yesterday. After all, she was trying to figure out who sent the big bouquet of flowers with the card saying "You've come along way, Baby. Your babies are proud of you."

In the meantime, she watched as Jim did some more work on her new deck, and when the mail came, she read even more cards sent by well wishers. Though the card numbers didn't reach 85, she did bring about 30 over to my house for the "barbecue" at 5 p.m. A very unsuspecting mother sat in the back yard in her balloon-strewn throne sipping on lemonade, when Sam Wormington came around the corner, leading the way as a host of longtime friends showed up to surprise her and to make our mother's day.

Finger foods from the Pack River Store, a yummy carrot cake from Yoke's added a culinary touch to an evening spent catching up and reminiscing the good ol' days and the good ol' times that Mother has spent in the Sandpoint area since first coming here on the train Christmas night, 1945. A few guests made their way to the Lodgepole "God" tree and signed the book. Jean Martin, who'd written a letter to the editor about weed eradication in yesterday's Spokesman, pointed out a weed that needed to be pulled.

"Harold saw one of those at my place and told me I needed to pull it," she said. Jean's reference to our dad and his ultimate wisdom served as just one of many times many of us quietly thought that the evening could have been totally complete if Harold were just there. His spirit surely had to have been present last night, and he probably smiled seeing Mother have such a delightful time on her special birthday.

During her celebration, she once more served as a phenomenal model for getting the most out of every day in spite of chronological age. I hope I can still get on a horse if I'm alive at 85.