Ode to Laura

A history lesson.

Laura is my friend. She moved into my ward in Merrie Miss A (a sunday school class). We can just say we didn't hit it off just right then. hehehe. But as we grew older, we became friends - just church friends and such. When highschool came around, Laura and I started to hang out a little more and more.

One day in highschool, I went with my best friend and 3 other really good friends and sluffed class. On the way back, we were broadsided by a Semi-trailer. It killed my 2 best friends and put the other 2 in coma's. I walked away with a broken collar bone. Somehow I didn't get knocked out and so I saw the whole thing happen. I don't want to get into details about that, but lets just say I was slightly traumatized.

Laura became my angel. I don't know why, but somehow she swooped in and automatically knew how to help me. I was a pretty shy girl up to this point. So the friends that died, were actually some of my ONLY friends. When I got back to school, I remember feeling like an alien. Everyone stared, no one knew what to say, etc. Laura became protective of me. I think about this stuff now and tears come to my eyes. Heaven sent.

The way a teenage girl, who is already going through the turmoils of adolescence, deals with such an event as the deaths of her best friends is interesting. Laura was right along there with me. She let me be weird, obsessive, sad and happy without ever getting in the way and telling me how I should feel. Without her - I know I would have been so lost.

I do want to point out that my family was AWESOME during that time. I love them.

Another event when Laura has been my angel, was when I was dating a jerk. I started dating a guy in highschool and continued on and off for quite some time. I became a different person. I gave in to his manipulating ways. Laura saw things that I never allowed myself too. She even got in a fight with him once. :) Laura was there EVERY time to pick up the pieces. I don't want to go into too much detail about this relationship - because I don't want to waste any more time on it.

Now, she and I are still best friends. Its been over a decade that she has been my angel. We have completely different lives: she is married, stay at home mom with 2 cute kids and lives in St. George while I am single, fear marriage, have a career and live in Northern Utah. Yet she is still the one that I confide everything to. What a blessing! :)

Laura has had some trials too. After they were married, they had a child - Laura was on bed rest for 3 months of the pregnancy. Then afterwards she had failed pregnancy after failed pregnancy. They even had a baby and lost it at birth - little Anna Bella. Laura and her hub decided to adopt, and they adopted the cutest little girl named Ava. They are now trying to add to their family and have put papers in for another adoption. Honestly all Laura wants to be is a mom. She lives for her babies. And she is so cute. She and her hub have the best relationship and they along with some others make me think that maybe marriage isn't so bad.... :)

I just recently put her family picture with a link attached to it that would send you to their adoption profile.

I know this post is a little cheesy, but when I think of my Matilda (Laura), I get tears in my eyes and my heart is full. Love you chica!