This was the visit that almost never was. Thanks to Donna, I now have snow tires on my car!! Perhaps I should back up a bit...
Going back a FEW months I texted Donna in August to invite her to a Clothes Swap party I was having with teacher friends. It had been quite awhile since we had been in contact but I was still shocked when her reply was, "I live in Edmonton now!" What?! She told me she would explain the whole story the next time we were able to get together. Thankfully (thankfully?!?!) my Teachers' Convention commitments take me to Edmonton at least twice a year and so we made a dinner date for tonight.
And then it started to snow. And we agreed to meet at 5:30 which meant afterwork rush hour. And I had her home address instead of the restaurant address in my GPS. Long story short, it took me 75 minutes to drive 7 km. Granted, had I entered the correct address I actually passed the place much earlier but I kept Donna waiting for a LONG time before I finally trudged in and eagerly ordered a big glass of wine! But enough about the Adventures of Andrea...
It was SOOO great to see Donna again! Originally the friend and colleague of Heather (Cup 36) and also a member in the same Book Club as my mom (Cup 19 - haha) Donna and I were drawn together through our professional dive into school administration. Donna is super smart, very insightful, extremely effective with people and just an all-round natural born leader. Even tonight, as she was humbly describing her involvements with her new community association her transferrable skill and drive was evident - although I had to point these similarities out to her as she had not connected what she is doing now to anything she has done before. Donna is taking this year off but is still making a difference to those around her. What lucky neighbours! (And one of her neighbours is actually Andrew Ferrence so some might think she and Anhtu are the lucky ones but....nope, it's Andrew!)
And then there is the rest of the "whole story". Donna defines Resilience. Blessed with the miracle of Baby Sally (who is actually now 4), after more miscarriages than most would ever admit, Donna has since battled through the confusion of losing two more babies - Stuart and Clive - to still-births as well as dealing with other miscarriages. This is mind-boggling to me! This is also the reason their family decided a bold new address was in order and who in the world could ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever argue?! Donna tells her story with reflection and resolve and I feel privileged she shared it with me. (And, I know I am endorsed to tell the story here too. At some point, near the beginning Donna made a comment to the effect of, "Get out your pen to keep all this straight for your blog!" As an aside - it hadn't even occurred to me I was out for one of my Cups of Coffee. I was just excited to see my friend and, as is usually the case, realize much later on I should ever write about the person!) But now back to our heroine... to look at Donna one would never guess the depth of the pain that must be lurking inside both she and her husband, Anhtu. While we were enjoying a carefree night of reminiscing I can only speculate there have been other nights where questions for the universe are the only focus. All readers here are probably asking a few right now! She is inconceivably forgiving and still grateful for other things.
While it's unbeknownst to anyone but her how far along the healing process Donna is, it would appear she is not letting these heartaches define her. Resiliency, yes. Wallowing, I don't see it. Donna is striving to be an example - likely to little Sally most of all. Hers is truly an inspirational story of how her family has dealt with the grief, found silver in the small things and is moving forward (no matter how difficult) because humans are amazing creatures and can be strong when determined.
It sure put a long, snowy drive into perspective!
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