Before
you leave, please leave me a comment or six in my guestbook - just click
on "Sign Guest Book" below - easy as that!
Meet
My Friend:
Annette Sather
While living in Great Falls, Montana I worked for a lovely man called Dwight Smith, for USAA (a military based retirement investment company) and one day he said that a new family had just arrived at the base and that I should give the wife a call as we had some things in common. She was originally from England and had moved to America when she married her husband. Her husbabnd was in the military, they had a son who was the same age as Timothy ... what else could you want ... oh, she also lived about 3 houses down from where I lived.
I gave her a call that evening and we met up for a coffee a few days later. At this point, obviously, I was working full-time so I didn't have an awful lot of spare time on my hands. Timothy and her son, Patrick struck up an immediate friendship and it was such a pleasure having Patrick around.
Eventually I got pregnant with Kasia and I gave up working about three weeks before she was born (on doctor's orders). Annette was a treasure as she looked after Carl when Todd and I went into the delivery room and I had to stay in hospital for a whole day!?!
Annette was also the person that I phoned when I received that awful phone call from Janette in which she accused my father of molesting her. I won't go into how much that affected me, it's not part of this particular part of my website, but needless to say Annette, her husband Jerry (a chaplain) and a few close friends helped me through this awful stage in my life.
As with military life, we moved to our next base and had to leave behind Annette and her family. They eventually moved to a base in England and then back to America. Annette and I have remained in contact throughout and have spent MANY long hours chatting on the phone. We are similar in so many ways, and she is an amazingly understanding, loving, caring, open woman that can listen to what I'm saying, give me advice and not judge me. To me this is the mark of a true friendship and one that I believe will last a lifetime.
She has a wonderful family that she loves very much and are lucky to have her. She has gone back into the working world as a nurse, which is an ongoing learning experience from what I can gather, and some of the stories that she tells me, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do what she does and come home as sane as she is!
I have been blessed knowing Annette (and Jerry) and since I'm a firm believer in fate, I know that she was sent to me (and maybe even I was sent to her???) to help me through some really awful times in my life. I just hope that along the way I have been there for her when she's needed me.
This photo was taken in 2002 when the Sathers were on their way to England. Kasia thought she wanted to be in the photo, then changed her mind!
