Almost 70 years old and still going strong.

That’s what I recently told a friend when asked how my grandmother was doing.

This November, my grandmother, Helmi, will turn 70. And it’s true – she just keeps getting better.

Now retired, she takes horseback riding lessons, is an active participant in and pit crew member of an endurance-riding group, attends classes at the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds Community College, keeps the family together and the household running smoothly.

I have been fortunate to have had a close relationship with her; she, my mom and I have lived together since I was a baby. Because of the hours my mom worked when I was younger, it was my grandma I remember waiting for me at the bus stop after school. And when I had days off, I often tagged along with her to work. As a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, she gave me my first glimpse of a college campus and the ambition to make it there at a young age. Between her classes, she and I would grab lunch in the cafeteria and then head over to the campus bookstore to browse. When I began taking classes at Seattle Central Community College and then at Seattle University, she came with me to buy my books and school supplies. I still love wandering around college bookstores, mostly because it reminds me of her.

It was also my grandma who, with my mom’s support and encouragement, introduced me to travel. Originally from Munich, Germany, she took me almost every year to visit family members and learn about Europe. My photo albums are filled with pictures and souvenirs from our trips to Germany, France and our favorite, England. As I got older, I used the travel skill she taught me to get to El Salvador, China, Tibet and around the U.S.

This week we will be taking another trip together. Along with my mom, we will be spending several days traveling through Colorado, the first American soil my grandma stepped on. It is where she met, married and buried my grandfather, where she raised her four children and where she earned her doctorate degree as a young, single parent in the early ’70s. We will visit the house my mom grew up in, the town I’ve only heard stories about and will meet people who know my family as I’ve only seen them in pictures.

It will be interesting, our three generations exploring the past.

As I packed my suitcase last week, I was reminded again how lucky I am to have had my grandma so involved in my life, and to still have her here today.

If she’s done this much at 70, I can’t wait to see what she’ll do at 80.

Shanti Hahler is the education writer for The Enterprise newspapers.