A twist to the typical Steemit introduction: This will be written as if it was written by my daughter at my funeral in 50 years.
Who was my mother, Michelle Rahn? We all know that she was one of a kind. She always made sure that every person she met knew that they were one of a kind. There are many sayings I remember from my mother, but here is one I remember most: "People will remember you for how you made them feel. Every person is unique, you just have to find out how".
She was someone who was always looking forward, and she could see farther than most. That might seem to be a gift, but it came with a curse. When a person can see farther than others, the others believe that the sight is imaginary, or worse, crazy. She often thought that what was perfectly obvious to her would be obvious to others, and that was rarely the case. Whatever it was she saw, she was able to create. She could see trends years in advance, and was able to capitalize on them. She insisted on buying in Mountain View, years before Google even existed. Mountain View grew over the decades she lived there, finally leading her to flee to the quiet and serenity of Auburn as soon as I was done with high school.
She was a mechanical engineer at Cal Poly in the 1980s, when she was usually the only female in the class. While that made her a curiosity, she never felt intimidated. In fact, I think she never felt intimidated ever in her life: she had a very strong disregard for hierarchy. This seemed to work in her favor during her career when she wasn’t afraid to tell the President of her company exactly what she thought about treatment of employees, or about how the product should be transformed. The management seemed to find her amusing and entertaining. They also profited by tens of millions of dollars based on her foresight and the teams that she led.
She had a very interesting job in Aerospace. She rose from being a mechanical engineer who designs deployment mechanisms for solar arrays, to being the person who envisions the evolution of satellites and their components. She retired early, because she just didn’t want to spend more time in that environment. When she retired, she made it a point to pick me up from school every day, and help me with my homework. It seemed like a radical change, but one she made gladly and without regrets. She enjoyed having time to do hobbies, spend time with Eric and I, and to write on Steemit.
When she was young, she always knew she would have kids. She seemed to design her early life so that she could raise Eric and I in a safe, secure environment. She bought her first house as a single woman in 1987, in Mountain View, CA. By the time she and my dad bought their first house together, she had already bought and remodeled 3 houses. When they got married, she was the one with all the tools. Remodeling was her secret passion. She could watch HGTV makeover shows all day long.
She was not afraid of change. That might be an understatement. During her childhood, she moved every two years because my grandfather was a park ranger. While she and my aunts hated moving this often, it made them all very resilient. It also made my mom crave radical change every two years, sort of unconsciously. Part of her extreme adaptability led her into exploring the internet and investing in internet stocks when that became the rage in the late 90s. Years later, when cryptocurrency and blockchain technology started to appear, she jumped on it and devoured as much as she could absorb. I remember that she spoke of it with such excitement, that others who didn’t have any idea what crypto was, would be drawn into her vision of it. People were always asking her for advice and she was always willing to give it.
She lived longer than most because she started researching longevity when she was in her 50s. She took Shilajit and C60, MSM, and handful of vitamins. Seems to have worked, she was spry until she was 108. She was an regular hiker and loved being outdoors.
Part of seeing far, was the fact my mother loved to be at the leading edge of current events and conspiracy-theory. In 2017 and 2018 she would tell us what was being revealed by “Q”, and my brother and father would roll their eyes, exchanging winks which said “she might be crazy”. She also was deeply into alternative health, which is probably why she lived so long. She only allowed us to have un-fluoridated toothpaste and water years before there was the public outcry about it’s toxicity and brain damage.
There’s more to tell, about how my mom was a prepper, a libertarian-conservative, an artist, a writer, a student, a teacher and an avid conspiracy-theorist. But I have spoken enough for now.
My mom told me that she always knew that my brother and I would be in her life, ever since she was a young girl. She said we were connected somehow and maybe past lives are real. I hope so. See you in the next life mom.
Image of Tesla: