Golden people. This is what I call people who grace my life, ring my ears with laughter , look me in the eye, and offer respect and love. This was Mavis Biesanz. Mavis Biesanz was an ground-breaking author. She wrote many books, including: “The Costa Ricans,” published in 1988, and “The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica,” and “Un año con Carmen. A Year with Carmen”, her last work.Mavis was golden because she was a writer and on top of publishing books including the lauded The Ticos, she was a mother. She was a voice of reason and keen insight. I was lucky enough to spend a few afternoons with Mavis. I interviewed her on occasion and in between sips of coffee, she imparted wisdom to me, sometimes without even knowing it.I traveled to Costa Rica to write, to learn a new culture, and to never, ever wear moon boots or shovel snow again. But traveling to a new place so very far from home can, at times, be a little lonely. Then, I met this woman. Her name was Mavis, and she’s this famous writer. We get to talking a bit and find out we’re from the same state: Minnesota. We talk a little more, and we find out we went to the same college! I didn’t speak Finnish, but could talk “Minnesotan”, which is a language all it’s own. I felt a connected to a little piece of home, of myself, when I met Mavis. Golden.A few years ago, I interviewed Mavis. We shared coffee, talked about writing and Minnesota and politics and mothering, and we talked about the country we so loved, Costa Rica. When I showed her the interview, she got out her pen and correct my many mistakes. The story she told me is a piece of Costa Rica that was as interesting and important as the books she wrote. Golden.Mavis broke ground. To write anything, even a phone number, is no small task while being a mother. Mavis traveled to Costs Rica in 1942! There was no Pan American highway. I know she continued on balancing motherhood and a career, which is about as easy as juggling plates on your nose. Golden.If I can honor her life, I hope I can in some small way carry the torch and continue to impart stories and insights to this country we both came to love. You betcha Mavis. You are Golden.