Happy birthday wishes to the queen of my heart, the flame of my soul – a celebrant of tea, a maker of morning coffee, a caretaker of trees, roaster of charcoal, an artisan of potions and marmalades who can rock a kimono one day, a gown fronting a big band the next, and muddy work clothes with a hard hat and tabi boots in between – all with equal panache
While her exceptional patience, sweetness, generosity, curiosity all glow beyond measure, her courage, bravery and intrepid spirit shine in equal measure
Not only is she a small business owner rolling in the cutest dump truck ever, she’s a spectacular mama whose son adores her and is always showing up to participate in the preschool activities – from trimming the trees to climbing the mountains and doing all those ceremonies I don’t quite understand – she’s also my gentle companion on literally hundreds of effing hospital visits
With Ryoko, the answer is always “yes yes yes and we’ll have cake” to every idea for adventure from beach hangs, parks and gardens, museums and jazz gigs, and friendly visits to especially our elderly friends and teachers. Oh right, it’s also “yes let’s go and we’ll bring flowers too”
The incredible Ryoko picked me up and re-lit the spark inside of me with her loving enthusiasm for my creative arts and crafts project and goes along with my insistence / requests for cheeseball pose family squad pictures :)
“Darling-chan, i’m so fortunate to see what you get up to this year and am always right by your side through all of your ideas and endeavours, and yes we can have ramen afterwards” @ryokoolson
