Last night I got a phone call… I was lying haphazardly on the sofa with a blanket sort of half-watching the football game, according to what I saw on Facebook it must have been a big game. Whatever. In the midst of this, my phone rings with a number I don’t recognize from out of state. I almost hit ignore but decided I was curious about who was on the other end. “Is this Lindsey?” the voice was kind and sweet so I answered cautiously (I’m always leery of numbers I don’t know)… after a round of somewhat awkward introductions I learned I was talking to a woman named Alana, the wife of one of my co-workers, Evan. Evan isn’t a co-worker that I know well, we work in different departments and he is very quiet (this may surprise you, but I’ve never in my life been described as any form of “quiet”). I was about to experience the most inspiring & intriguing 45 minutes of my life as a parent (so far). I guess I’ll back up and explain how this all came about…
Back in September, my co-worker Melissa was attending a U of O football game (I know, I know… but I still like her anyway) and on the shuttle to the game she ran into Evan and his soon-to-be-wife, Alana. On that Monday Melissa came to me and said “I met Evan’s fiancĂ© this weekend, she was lovely, outgoing and had the most unique eyes I’ve ever seen.” I looked at her for a minute, wondering if she was going where I thought she was… “I think she has the same eyes as Olive. I think you should go talk to him.” After a few rounds of figuring out how to bring it up to someone that I’ve barely said ‘Hello’ to, I was off and running… and he was off on his honeymoon for a few weeks. Argh. I checked out all the photos in his cubicle, she was beautiful but she was wearing sunglasses in every photo. That made perfect sense. When he finally came back I fumbled through an uncomfortable conversation with him. I was really scared of offending him, and I think I was just about to until I told him about Olive. I asked if he would ask if his wife was willing to talk to me. I didn’t hear anything from him again. I approached him again a couple weeks ago and left my number with him, really hoping that she would call…
After getting through the start of the conversation, I explained what Olive had and learned that Alana has nearly the same thing. It sounds like there may be a few differences, but in general… they are pretty close. Close counts with a condition this rare. From here, I just asked her to tell me about her life, I could have listened to her for hours upon hours. The entire time I was talking to her, Olive sat on the floor, staring at me without moving or making a sound, it was like she knew something big was happening. With every word my heart getting lighter, letting go of fears that I didn’t even know I had. Alana told me that her vision is definitely affected but she can drive, she played sports, she loves to ski & snowboard, graduated from college & has a great career… The kids in school thought it was awesome, it was the first thing Evan noticed about her; she doesn’t like fireworks and can’t see 3D. Trivial things to most people, but I went to bed and slept soundly, for the first time in exactly 10 months & 19 days.
5 comments:
What wonderful news and also a great resource for you and Sean. I am so happy you made this connection.
Ohh!! That is soo awesome! I'm happy for you! I'm SURE it HAD to have helped to hear it from someone who has been there - and came out on top!! I know little Olive will too :)
Oh! I could CRY! I love this! I'm so, so, so thankful that she took the time to call you.
{sniff}
That's so awesome and certainly not a coincidence! We have also connected with a family whose son (now 30) has the exact same condition as Griffin. It is such an amazing resource. Very happy for you!
such a wonderful and great news you have shared. thanks
IT Support Services
Post a Comment