HAPPY BIRTHDAY STORYTELLERSRUS

Storytellersrus is a popular hubber and writer par excellence who lives in scenic and unpolluted environs above the mile high city of Denver in Colorado, USA. She celebrates her 58^th birthday to-day, 12^th of February 2011.

We’ve never met, nor spoken to each other. But I have got to know her fairly well from her many interesting hubs and occasional email exchanges.

Storyteller’s family hails from Norway – which has the amazing record of being No. 1 on the Human Development Index in eight years out of the last 10. Little wonder then that she herself is such an evolved and fine human being with so many diverse interests and talents.

At first glance, in some of her pictures posted on her hubs, she comes across as a beautiful, fiery red head Viking. In others, her eyes give her away as they twinkle with merriment and compassion. If you see her previous profile picture (a favourite of mine) you can almost hear peals of laughter ringing out of it.

She finds joy in simple things, even in collecting heart shaped rocks. In her own words:  “The best way I know to pray is to walk the open space. I find God in majestic Ponderosa Pine battling beetle rot beside rutted roads where neighbourhood children build jumps for mountain bikes. I find God in the distant Rocky Mountain upthrust and in the delicate warble of a lark bunting.”

She is fond of music and, much like her mother, enjoys listening to it as often as possible. Some of her favourite songs have been listed in this hub. John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High doesn’t figure in that list. It has been one of my favourites since I first heard it very many years ago. Now that I have got to know and befriend Storytellersrus from that area, it seems even more special. I particularly like this version on You Tube because of the scenic views.

She keeps a very busy schedule, being not only a hubber, but also an examiner of young adults’ writing, tending to a tidy and very warm home, taking keen interest in community matters and social issues. She loves animals and dogs in particular. She enjoys taking her wheaten terrier, Finnegan, for a jog and walk twice a day in the beautiful hundred acre wood which is located behind her home. She brought comfort and joy to her father in law during his last months by sitting long hours with him, listening to his nostalgic stories. Meticulously and purposefully, she even planned his funeral service. Similarly, she has been tending to her mother in law with the love and care that would usually be expected only of a daughter.

A devoted wife to her husband, she has been extremely encouraging and a pillar of strength for him when his business in oil has languished during the last couple of years. She is also a doting mother to a handsome young man and two very attractive young ladies. From what I’ve gleaned about the children, they are all very well brought up, with high moral character and the right values – a rarity these days. Credit for this must surely go to her.

Her Hubpage statistics show close to 900 followers and 143 hubs even after she has deleted many times that number. Why she deleted so many hubs, I don’t know. Some of my favourites – like the one about the flowers in the hundred acre wood and the ones about her nephew’s adventures as he cycled through the length and breadth of the country - also seem to have been consigned to the bin. Though all her hubs are very well written, here are some that had touched or moved me and have not (yet) been deleted:

A letter she wrote to her late dad.

How she crashed a glider.

A day in the life of her dog, Finnegan.

Her ‘day of retirement’ – as the youngest was about to fly the nest.

On Amazing Grace.

Once, when we were just getting acquainted, she described herself as a triple Aquarian INFJ. INFJ, I learnt from a google search, is an acronym for Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging personality: A person whose primary mode is inward looking and intuitive, while the secondary mode is external or outward looking, where she deals with people and things based on her feelings about them. INFJs are said to be gentle and caring individuals with a highly developed sixth sense (ESP.) They are artistic and creative by nature. It is also a rare human – less than one percent of humanity – that is endowed with this personality.

It was probably the INFJ in her that coined the year gone by as her year of grace. The hubs which she wrote to celebrate the theme are especially sensitive. She loves poetry, where her artistic and creative nature shines through the words she strings together in various genres of verse. I commend these hubs of hers to everyone who appreciates skilful writing with a deft turn of phrase.

Let me end this hub by wishing you, dear Storytellersrus, the very best of everything on your birthday. May your eyes always twinkle, and may you always be blessed with good health, happiness, love and belly-full laughter.