This morning I was up early with pink kissing the sky. I am alone today. I made my necessary coffee with almond milk and was called outside by the persistent rooster across the street and the song birds busy at their work creating Spring. Sitting outside as a witness, I sat on my weathered grey bench and opened my ears. The sounds were like a bath, a shower of song so pleasant and healing to greet the morning. So much gratitude. This is my healing place where I reflect on all that has become intertwined in my life. This weaving and interlocking and intertwining is the story, my story, with its episodes and the many chapters. As I age I can taste each one.
Now there is another chapter I must write for a new edition to Love, Courage, and Miracles…… perhaps one day. For that chapter I have been introduced to an intertwining of an unusual type. I met another mother shortly before Mother’s Day. We planned this meeting a few weeks after being introduced on our social media. She found my daughter. She found me. This other mother lost her daughter in an instant and in that moment her life became intertwined with Anna and me. Her daughter, Shawntee saved my daughter, Anna’s life.
After a ride on BART into the city I arrived to an open cafe patio dressed with a purple bougainvillea. I was anticipating this meeting with a positive heart that came after 14 and a half years since the instant in the universe when our lives became linked. As Delia walked into the cafe we hugged. Tears arose and a sense of gladness and appreciation seeped out and into our embrace. I believe we were both amazed at this moment in time that came at what may have been just the right moment. Intertwinings have their own way of being. They have their roots in our unseen world and know how, when and where to weave and interconnect. For what ever reason, this was the time.
Weeks before this meeting Delia discovered the second letter of gratitude for her gift of life that Anna sent anonymously. It was stored in a desk drawer hidden from view. Finding that letter, Delia was reminded she always meant to reach out but so much time had passed. Not knowing if it would be possible to find Anna she became a social media sleuth. With clues from the letter it did not take long for her to find her. And now, she had the courage. Perhaps this much time had to pass for her broken heart to have healed enough.
Perhaps other forces were also at work in our intertwining from that unseen place. I was in Australia for about one week when I had a dream where my father who passed away in 1997 came to visit me. As he entered my dream space I was surprised to see him.”What are you doing here Dad?” I asked. He replied in that dream quality impression of a voice with words that said, “I am here for a friend, someone who died. I am here for that and I have a message.” This was curious and I wondered if he appeared simply to go to a funeral and who this friend might be. As the dream went on Dad stayed by me and I introduced people to him, “I would like you to meet my Dad.” Then the images faded. Dad went on to complete his mission.
I awoke remembering the dream and knowing it was one of those “other kinds of dreams”. I wondered what it was about as Anna and I greeted the morning. Along with our musings over FaceBook marketplace I told her of my dream. Sipping my always necessary coffee and looking up from my phone queries I saw that Anna’s face looked puzzled. “What is wrong, Anna?” She could not talk. She was stunned. Handing her phone to me I read a message that had just arrived. It was an inquiry from someone who claimed she was her donor’s mother. “Oh my God!” Tears burst forth in a rushing release. Incredible! After all these years. But is this true?
We did our own sleuthing to confirm it was true. It was a moment in time Anna never thought would happen. It was a wish she always had, to know her donor, to personally thank her family. And for me, it was the very special gift to be there in that moment in Australia with Anna when Delia’s reveal happened. Wow, it was an experience not easy to describe. It was deeply personal and mystical and odd.
“Oh my gosh, Anna. That was why Dad came to me last night in my dream!” It was clear this was true in the way only feelings can know. Something mysterious and of spirit happened that morning. It was the perfect time, the moment, a special time for an extraordinary intertwining to be revealed. It was a gift.
After weeks of communication from California to Australia and back, Anna and Delia got to know each other and who Shawntee was. And now I have met Delia. I brought gifts to Delia from Anna that represented how Shawntee made her life possible. Her gifts included medals from the transplant games that showed how powerful the gifted lungs were. They powered Anna to go to amazing places, Africa and Australia, to become an accomplished transplant athlete, to marry Terry, to have her daughter, Zoe. Shawntee’s life was too short (she and Anna were the same age) and ended in an unkind way yet she gave life to not only Anna with her lungs but also four others whose lives where saved with her kidneys, pancreas, liver and heart. And this happened because of the decision made by Delia to create something good out of a tragedy in the middle of tremendous shock and grief. Delia was clearly linked with Shawntee into this intertwining where they had no idea they were to become instrumental in someones life and part of a miracle. This is transplant. This is what transplant is about.
Our meeting was friendly, kind, warm, emotional and loving. After chatting for two hours on the patio we had another young man take our photo. He had no idea how special this photo was. He had no idea that we would never have met before this intertwining because we come from very different worlds. We both were part of something mysterious. Our intertwining resulted in loss and miracles, grief and joy, meaning and purpose.
Anna has honored Shawntee every day of her transplanted life. She has carried her forward. Our family has had a grateful heart for the unknown giver of the greatest gift. Now we know her story. We love her and Delia forever. Delia knows that Shawntee offered life and miracles to five people. What an incredible legacy. Delia and I are mothers and grandmothers and we hold hands. Life is hard and mysterious and there is no way we can understand it all. Have you figured that out yet? But there is an intertwining. I know it. We all experience it in different ways. It is the hope and it comes from the place where miracles reside. Bless you Shawntee.
