Miss Sixty

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
For love
For your dream
For the adventure of being alive...
-Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation

As a cute little girl with curly brown hair, she preferred to play with her cowboys and indians more than anything; oh and she also loved stick horses. In the summers she'd pass the days away as a mud-crawler, crawling along the bottom of the creek that wound its way around the ol' farm house by Roberts, MT, just outside of Red Lodge. Only real trouble she ever got in was lighting a fire beneath those wooden, farm-house stairs. Not sure what she was thinkin', but she can sure start a good campfire these days! She learned to drive as a youngster, taking the tractor out for a spin across the fields under the big Montana sky. If you've never been to Montana, it truly is a beautiful place. Of Finnish heritage, the sauna was a weekly tradition as she joined the rest of the Finnish community, oftentimes running out of the sauna, jumping into the creek or rolling around in the snow, and running back into the sauna (the Finns swear it's a good shock for your system). Her father, Tenho Koski, was a cattle rancher and music man, playin a mean fiddle, trumpet, tuba, trombone, you name it. Her mom, (Frances Margaret Susich)'s recipes for apple streudel and Finn bread (for which she had no recipes, only instinct and years of practice) have been passed along through the generations; as a fact, I know many of YOU have had the pleasure of sampling this streudel!

As a nursing student at Montana State University in Bozeman, she had the opportunity to venture to Denver for a year where she danced on table-tops at the Little Bear Saloon with her sister Carole and learned a thing or two about wilderness survival through a course in the Rocky Mountains. She also managed to break her leg during a softball game, which as her husband likes to recall, slowed her down long enough for him to catch up with her. She met the love of her life at her college roomate's wedding: he was the best man, she was the maid of honor. He proposed to her just outside of Denver, up at the overlook near Buffalo Bill's grave with a view of the Rocky Mountain foothills and the Denver high desert in the distance. She said yes, despite the fact he was a University of Montana Grizzly, (her school's rival) and is notorious for corny jokes (awww, dad!) After a few years of living on Ranger Stations with the U.S. Forest Service throughout Montana, they settled in Coeur d'Alene, ID. Her favorite flower is the Indian Paintbrush, found wild throughout the mountains of the inland northwest.

After several good years of adventures with her husband, sailing in the Caribbean, bow-hunting in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and traversing through Scandinavia, she began the adventure of motherhood, and an adventure it has been.

Last Monday, on November 8th, 2010, my mom celebrated her 60th birthday. As would be expected, she and my dad decided to spend the night in Spokane at the Red Lion Hotel strategically located by the Spokane River. They headed into Spokane early Monday morning in order to make the most of their time there. Rather than spending the day shopping or relaxing, do you know how she celebrated? She and my dad biked 60 miles...SIXTY...in commemoration of each year of her life! They headed out on the bike path that runs along the Spokane River from their hotel in Spokane all the way to Falls Park in Post Falls, Idaho and back again. Upon arrival back to their hotel, after nearly 7 hours of biking, they were still 3 miles short of 60. Sooooo, they biked around Riverfront Park-- in the DARK -- until they completed the full sixty miles. I was quite impressed, thinking my mom had biked that far on a road bike. Then I found out she had done it on her MOUNTAIN bike! For any of you who are familiar with the world of cycling, the difference between a road and mountain bike is SIGNIFICANT. I feel like biking 60 miles on a mountain bike is the equivalent of 100 on a mountain bike!! Needless to say, I am SO PROUD OF YOU MOM!! You are an amazing, beautiful, inspiring woman! Congrats on 60 wonderful years of life!

"Roberta Truscott -- aka MOM"

Blessings to you all.
I want to know how you will risk looking like a fool for the adventure of being ALIVE.
-Hana T.