Helga the Great

If you were my great-aunt Helga, you would:

* be 86 years old, of hearty Norwegian stock, and living near Seattle
* be the matriarch of your husband's extended clan
* beat breast cancer in your 80s
* kick the ass of anyone who took your golf tee time
* have your car totaled in an accident (not your fault), walk away unscathed, and use the insurance money to buy a 2-seater red sports car

You would also:
* during a full-on regional blackout, attempt to get down to the parking garage, and fall, breaking 2 ribs, your shoulder in 2 places, and puncturing a lung, lying there until the super found you
* insist upon not getting an ambulance; insist your son come pick you up, despite the hour-long impediment of traffic during a blackout
* still insist on not calling an ambulance
* wait for hours in the hospital (because you didn't arrive in an ambulance)
* bounce back within an alarmingly small number of days (she's almost out of the ICU! She's 86!!)

She's amazing, she's incredible, she's Helga. She's my mom's aunt and one of my favourite people on earth. Just wish i could visit more often.