Super Sonic Soul Sister Sue and her girlfriends....

Sassy Sue, Crazy Sue, Vivacious Sue, my Aunt Sue, the older sister I never had Sue, the one I can tell my dirtiest secrets to and hide from my mother Sue.  The Sue I love, the Sue I adore, here is to Sue.

Two days ago I had lunch with my "Crazy Aunt Sue".  When I was younger, she was the lady who would scream when she saw me, come running up to me, hug me.....no not hug.... more like SQUEEZE my guts out hug me, and kiss me all over my cheeks.  As an adult, nothing has changed!!  She's a woman who tells you how she feels right then and there, no hiding, no messing around, no bull shit, lay it all on the table kind of woman.  She is loud, but we love her loud.  Her laugh is contagious, and everything is funny. . . everything is funny when you are talking to Sue. She also has the biggest heart.  THE BIGGEST HEART!  She loves loves and loves some more.  The great thing about her love is she tells you.  Every time you see her, "I love you sooo much!!" and she goes into that hugging til my insides squeeze out and you feel it.  You feel her love every second you are with her. . .
She has been through the hardest of times... and when I say hard, I really mean "hell".  But here is the thing about Sue, when something bad happens, or she "messes up", Sue pulls through.  She kicks the "hell" off her back and gets out of it.  She doesn't "feel sorry for herself", or think she has had "bad luck".  She just keeps on moving forward.  Currently, she is happy, married to an amazing man, and is LIVING.  Let me say that one more time, Sue IS LIVING... every second, every minute, of every day.  She loves life.  She loves her friends, her work, her community, and we love her just as much back.  Whenever I am having a hard time, second guessing myself,  or just need someone to say "cole, f*ck 'em, you are amazing and can conquer the world, live freely, do what you want, and just have fun!"... who do I call (or email).. SUE!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE her...
Here are two pictures of us at lunch:

Growing up, there were five woman in my life that meant a lot to me.  They would get together every so often throughout the year, a lunch here, a birthday celebration here, game nights, lady nights, etc.  Katy Hook, Maura Odell, Mary Greg, Carol Duckworth (my mother) and Sue.  The beautiful thing about these ladies as that they all went to Ketchikan High School.  Actually Mary, Katie and my mom went to Houghtaling together and Sue and Maura came along in Junior High.  All five ladies have been great friends ever since.  They have been through marriages, babies being born, divorces, diseases, sadness, happiness and stuck together through it all!  Here is a picture:

Maura, Sue, Mary, Katy and Carol

I love all these woman.  Each one is unique and amazing!  I love that Maura is so earthy and loves plants!!  Maybe one of these days she will teach me her ways.  She also emailed me her recipe file and I fell in love with food all over again.  Mary says what she wants and I always thought she was the "cool" one growing up.  Plus her favorite color is purple just like me and all her clothes were what I wanted to be wearing.  Katy is adorable.  I will always remember her laugh.  She is so sweet and always had something to feed me when I would come over to her house.  I will always remember she had a duck growing up and it would run after me and nip my butt.  And of course my Mom... she's my best friend.  I tell her everything. She probably gets sick of me telling her everything, but she's my Mom and deals with me :).

xoxox Merry Christmas ladies!!  Lets get together for lunch before I leave on the 3rd!

~Cole