Really, I think it was that beautiful smile and that incredible laugh of hers that brought us together. I've never known anyone with such a gift for laughter. Even with of all of her pain and suffering she loves to laugh and tell jokes and to make people laugh. Donna touches many hearts with this gift of hers. But let me begin at the beginning.
I knew Donna casually for several years before we really got to know each other as friends. We would say "hello" and that was about it. I was a little afraid to get involved with someone with a severe disability, perhaps, and I was very busy with work and other commitments. Donna lives in the same apartment building as the man who was my boss at the time. It is a building exclusively for disabled adults. My former boss is a quadraplegic. On occassion when I was entering the building on my way to work I would see this beautiful lady in the lobby. She often looked very sad and lonely. Sometimes she would avoid my eyes, but one day I made eye contact and smiled and she smiled back... with the most beautiful smile. I was a little hessitant to talk to her though. I knew another woman with Cerebral Palsy who had a severe speech problem who would often get angry when people didn't understand what she was trying to say. I feared that Donna might be the same. Yet I often wondered what this beautiful woman who sat so straight upright in her wheelchair was like. Did she have friends...a job? What did she like to do with her time? Did she sit home all alone at night? Was she lonely? I wouldn't know the answer to these questions until years later when a chance meeting in the lobby of her building with a mutual friend brought us together
To be continued... |
