Reminiscing

So this evening my husband and I watch a movie and the main character (Josh Hartnett) reminded me of my friend 'John'. So I called him and his wife 'Leah' on the other side of this country and reminisced. Leah and I were very good friends as we coached together for years in gymnastics. We also ran an a Special Needs program for Social services to integrate Mentally challenged teens into the community before graduation. The day I met her she was sharing her wedding photos at the gym club where she just got hired (where I was working). In her wedding pics, she wore her jean jacket over the dress and I thought "WE are definitely going to be friends...". We were inseparable by the end of that week. The three of us we were the best of friends and I was at their home constantly. Johnny even let me pick their home out as Leah was very sick and depressed after the first baby was born and couldn't go house hunting. I had almost even named one of their daughters! They have seen me through a lot, and I, them. There are no two people on this earth with whom I have shared so much laughter and tears.

When Leah had her second child, she had severe post partum depression. I mean severe. She was one of the rare women who developed a psychosis and needed to be cared for constantly or admitted. It started with tingling in here legs after a run, then led to temporary feelings pf paralysis so they thought it was MS. As they live on a remote island, Leah had to be flown off to be brought to the main city center every time she had symptoms. I had moved back home to NS by this time so John called me in tears to tell me the story. They had admitted her to the psych ward and would only let her go home with 24h supervision; preferably from a nurse. Leah said I was the one she wanted there to help their family through this. She was a very personal person and definitely NOT the emotional type. She was the type who teased her groom at their wedding while he cried, ya know? So, of course, when I got the call, I dropped everything (as I was not in the same Province when all this happened) and left to go out West again to help John with the kids and look after his wife.

It was very intense for me, but it was my calling. Yes, it was awful living on an island with a sick baby, a confused 2year old, a psychotic mother who could hardly even dress herself and a husband who was stressed, depressed and had extremely high expectations of my ability to cook, clean, counsel and nurse his children. We even had a fight at one point. My days were filled with holding down my best friend to dress her, feed her, give her her sleeping pills and keep her and the kids sane. I got very little sleep and arrived back home after a few weeks sick from exhaustion. On the plane on the way home I was vomiting blood and they almost landed early. I slept for 17hours and worried about that family for days after. But while I was there I was as cool as a cucumber. That house was spotless, the babies were happy, mom was calm, and Johnny was running his home business and hopeful that his wife would carry through without hospitalization. To this day, she remembers hardly any of it. It's Johnny's and my little secret.

And I would do it all over again for them. For anyone that I loved.

It was so good to hear their voices tonight on the phone. All these years later. The girls are years older and cannot recall any of it. Thank god for that. I remember it all. And I was so glad to be a part of it. It was one the greatest blessings I have experienced. For someone to reach out to me when all they knew had been lost. To trust me to bring them back to sanity; and for me to have pulled through despite the odds.

I have so much more to learn about myself and so many more ways in which to grow. But I am so so so happy that I had that opportunity to push myself to the limit and really be there for people whom I love so dearly.