Walking On Sunshine

"I feel the love, I feel the love that's really real.
I'm walking on sunshine and don't it feel good..."
(Katrina and the Waves)

Pictured left to right: Doug Botkin, Denise Johnson, Katrina Marie Johnson and Grandma Ramona Lynam - August 27, 1986.

I was very happy to have a granddaughter after two grandsons. I did not know how her name was chosen until Doug told me it was from a song. I hope I've remembered the right one. Even if I haven't, Katrina has brought a lot of sunshine into our lives in her twenty-four years.




I love this picture of her in her purple birthday hat. We were celebrating at Great-grandma Ruth's. I think it was her 8th birthday. Such a fashionista!

Katrina is a Virgo. One of the traits for Virgos is that they are caregivers. "When the meal is done, they are the first to jump up and start the dishes." Little Katrina was doing that from an early age. She would collect every one's dirty plates and take them to the kitchen. Now she does the organizing, cooking and cleaning for family get-togethers.










I think we were celebrating her 16th birthday when Katrina had her first airplane ride. We toured the air museum in Greenfield before she got to go up in this cute little single-engine Piper.










Another birthday celebration saw her Dad and I taking her for a canoe trip down the Middle Raccoon River. We put in west of Linden and took out just north of Doug's acreage west of Redfield. The river was low. There were many places we had to get out and wade because it was so shallow. The way Katrina remembers it, we had to wade because I had filled the canoe full of rocks I wanted to take home with me. O.K., that may have been part of the reason.
It was a fun afternoon - some interesting sights along the river including a new house, a 'hut' built from sticks and branches and a private picnic shelter. Amazing how long it can take to travel a short distance on a river - lots of switchbacks.







Katrina is the ultimate caregiver now - a mother. She is excelling in this role, too. Rodney is such a good and happy baby. I know it is in great part because she is such a good momma.

Such a short time ago, she was the baby....our family tree grows on.