Today I was taking my morning walk and listening to Candy Colburn sing "Pink Warrior." This is the song that inspired my blog name & my 3day team name--Jenny's Army of Angels. But this entry is not about me...it's about the angels in my life.
Let me introduce you to Beth.
Back in June of 2003 I was coming to the end of my first year home with Jackie & knew I had a decision to make about work--either find something to do from home or go back to teaching. Enter Beth. I requested info from her from an advertisement online about working from home & she called me up, this complete stranger from PA. She got me the info & I jumped right in with both feet. She offered so much support and we became fast friends. I worked with her for nearly 2 years before I got to even meet her in person. Before we met, I learned so much about and from her. She suffered from diabetes from childhood. Legally blind she could not drive herself and worked from home. After a failed kidney transplant years before we met, she required a shuttle to take her to & from her dialysis treatments 3x's a week. About a year and 1/2 after we started working together she called me from the hospital to tell me that they were amputating her leg. That month she advanced her business FROM THE HOSPITAL to the level where our company pays for a new car! And just a few months later, in April 2005, I got to meet her for the first time in person. Beth was recognized that night at our regional business dinner and she asked her hubby to wheel her over the stage in her wheelchair to accept her awards so she wouldn't risk losing her prosthetic leg while trying to walk with it! I nearly spit my drink across the table when she said that!
Fast forward another 2 years--we've become the best of friends. She adopted a little girl in between my daughters' ages and we talked parenting, business, husbands, family...every night at 11pm she'd hide in her bedroom closet while her husband slept and we'd share an ice cream sundae over the phone while talking about our day. The day I found out I had cancer I was alone at the hospital--we truly weren't expecting any bad news. After calling Joel from the patient room to tell him why I'd be late getting home, Beth was my first phone call in the car--I knew she'd understand. She said, "We'll get thru this. What can I do for you?"
Beth was there through my first diagnosis, surgeries and treatment. During that time, I actually advanced MY business to the point where I got MY car & she was the one who made the call to tell me with my mentor from the home office. We celebrated and I got to make the exclusive all expenses paid trip to the home office just 2 months after my final surgery, in February 2007. When Joel & I checked into our room that first night, there was a box on my bed. It was a charm bracelet from Beth--engraved with the date of my advancement & my initials. I never take it off. I returned from my trip on Saturday. Monday night she invited me to share with her entire team my experience...she was like a proud momma. The following Sunday morning her husband called me & gave me the most unexpected news that Beth had passed away overnight. Only 2 weeks later we found out she'd sent me an angel--we were expecting our 3rd baby in November.
As Candy's
Pink Warrior song says "She's a Pink Warrior...got an Army of Angels marching around with her..." Not only do I have my team of walking angels and the many angels who support me in so many ways here in my everyday life, but I have my angel Beth up above making life a little easier knowing she's on my side.
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