By Sadie De Arruda
Time is a funny thing. Time apart is said to make the heart grow fonder, and makes us rely on our memories more heavily, but time spent together also creates division. There are people in our lives who are incredible in more ways than we remember, and it’s because they’re always with us. We’ve normalized their amazing qualities simply because we have easy access to them.
I’m no better than the rest. I forget to appreciate who I have in my life as much as the next person. However, I was recently fortunate enough to re-meet a hero of mine. My best friend’s mother has been in my life for as long as I can remember. Leanne has been with me while I was sick, took me in for more dinners than anyone could count, and supported me through major moments in my life. Her presence has been a constant in my life. And because of that, I had forgotten how incredible she truly is.
Last week this woman was kind enough to bring me with her and her daughter to tour Waterloo University. And on the way home we were in an accident. Thankfully no one was hurt and we’re all okay, but without the incredible perseverance of this woman the outcome could have ended up much worse.
To set the stage I must go back and describe the hours leading up to the accident to allow you to fully appreciate this story.
Even before the sun was up Leanne had driven across town to pick me up for the day. At 6:30 in the morning she had a simile on her face, and a car full of snacks for us all. The drive-up went smoothly, and we had a great time touring the school. And on the way out when we encountered a group of people I didn’t feel comfortable around, Leanne didn’t hesitate to altogether remove us from the situation without a care about what others might have thought. She had created a nurturing environment for her daughter and me to explore university life and a new city.
Here’s where the tide begins to turn in a day that had previously been smooth sailing. While driving back home we hit a big pocket of traffic, but without a single complaint, Leanne faced the challenge. She got us out of Toronto and we were back on track.
Shortly after we made it through Toronto, we decided to stop for dinner since it was already so late. We stopped at a restaurant in Pickering only to find the restaurant very understaffed and flailing trying to make it through the night. It was less than admirable service, and after the waiter returned for the third time to ask if Leanne had her food yet (while her daughter and I had already been served), she decided to forget about her dinner and just get back on the road.
Personally, I know that if I had gone without a proper meal I wouldn’t have had the ability to drive, let alone to deal with everything that followed that night. But once again Leanne persisted. The only thing she wanted in lieu of dinner was a caffeinated drink, but even that simple request was unmet. I can not stress enough how much this was not her night.
We got back into the car and started again for home. It was just after eight, the sky had lost all colour and sodium vapour lights guided us. I’m absolutely certain when I say that we had been on the road no more than thirty minutes when suddenly Leanne gasped. I looked to see what was happening only for a large blur in front of us to fly in front of the car before gravity threw me back against my seat. We had hit a deer on the highway. Somehow a deer made it all the way over to the left lane of a four-lane highway, only to freeze as we approached it. Once again none of us were hurt, Leanne had managed to keep the car from swerving into another lane, and had gotten across the lanes to get us off the highway and pulled over on the side of the road.
As the two of us in the back seat took a moment to catch our breath momentarily, Leanne didn’t miss a beat working out how to get us to safety. After a phone call with her husband, she decided to try and get us off the side of the highway and get up to an ON Route just up the road. Although the car wasn’t really in the mood to keep going Leanne got it all the way to the ONroute and we finally stepped out of the vehicle. In our first moment of real relief, Leanne pulled us both into a hug to check to make sure we were still okay. Even though I wasn’t her biological family, she didn’t hesitate to act as if I was, which came as a great relief seeing as my own family was two hours away.
Afterward we checked the front of the car and quickly realized we weren’t going to be driving it the last two hours to get home. So there we were, almost nine o’clock at night, two hours from home, without a way back.
We got back in the car to escape the cold and started to devise a plan to get home. Seeing as we weren’t technically on the highway anymore and no one was hurt the police informed us they wouldn’t be coming. And because we were in the middle of nowhere most tow trucks didn’t want to come to get us so late at night. Half an hour was lost just to trying to find a tow truck willing to come to us and drive back to Kingston. And this is when I’ll remind you that Leanne hadn’t got a proper dinner, or any caffeine to make it through these frustrating interactions, but she never so much as raised her voice with anyone. She also was in high enough spirits to continue throwing out iconic one-liners. My personal favorite was in response to her husband jokingly suggesting we start a game of Risk while we wait for someone to come get us, to which she calmly responded, “I think I’ve played game risk with our lives tonight Dave.”
While she called the tow truck driver who finally agreed to come and get us, her daughter and I went into the ONroute in hopes of finding her some food or caffeine. We returned to the car with a can of diet Pepsi and the way she looked at us you’d have thought we came back with a full Thanksgiving meal after saving orphan kittens from a fire.
Two hours after the accident we finally made it into the tow truck and started for home. And despite everything that happened that night Leanne still checked in with me to see how my motion sickness was doing. If this article has not already convinced you how thoughtful and amazing this woman is, I hope that part of the story finally does.
Around twelve-thirty we finally made it home. I then made it to my home around one in the morning. It was the longest day of my life. But I can say with total confidence that despite everything that went wrong that night, it all could have been much worse.
So readers, I encourage you to look around at the people in your life and consider how amazing they are. Don’t wait for a car accident to remind you how grateful you are, you never know how long you have certain people in your life. Don’t waste your time coexisting; encourage, celebrate each other!
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