When I was a senior in High School, I worked at the local mall – about eight stores total, in La Porte, IN. I worked for a little dress shop called Stuart’s. It would be comparable to a Forever 21 today. I loved it. Every paycheck bought me new clothes from the store where I worked for $3.75 an hour. I did get a 30% discount off anything I bought, but still – I wasn’t the best as saving, obviously. I had the world by the tail and was loving life.
One evening, when I was working the 5-9 shift, I received a phone call from my mom. Pre-mobile phone days, so she had called on the store land line. Pretty much a no-no – NO personal calls, right? I took the call while my boss stared me down. My mom proceeded to tell me that my cousin Angela had been in a terrible car accident. I started to shake and I feared the worst. She was still alive, but it was very, very bad. I cannot emphasize how bad. It was as bad as it could get without it being the worst. My boss watched the unfolding of Rayanne right before her and she knew I was devastated. She withheld the “no personal call” scolding and sent me home.
Angela and I had grown up living close to each other, our families spending one or two Sundays a month together, and many weekend nights at each other’s house. My cousin Angie was a style icon to me… I loved the way she dressed and how easily she was put together. I can remember like it was yesterday, standing in her bathroom giggling and brushing our teeth as we prepared for an all night gab fest – she turned to me and said, “You know you can put toothpaste on zits and it will clear them up?” Angie was always a wealth of just such information. She was an entrepreneur at a very young age. When her family moved to UT after spending all of her life in California, Angela found a way to stay in tough with her contacts and friends on the West Coast. She got into cross-state merchandising at the ripe old age of 17. She purchased items in UT and then drove into California and sold them for a profit. But one such trip brought the afore-mentioned tragedy.
Angie had a terribly long recovery. She was in, what was termed, a “walking coma.” And when she awoke, she had a rebirth. She started her life over – literally. Angela,then and now, is one of the most loving people you could ever meet. I had been thinking about her a bit when my Aunt sent over an email with news about The Waifs, an Australian band that my cousin’s (Angie’s younger brother, Mat) wife is part of. Vikki Thorn, Mat’s wife and mother of his two children (one more on the way!) has a haunting voice and so captured the essence of Angela in a song of that title that I had to share it here. Please visit The Waif’s site for their new album, Temptation and have a free listen to “Angela.” (click on the golden arrow next to “Angela”)
I love you Angie. I love you, Aunt Joanne and Uncle Chuck. Life is not always easy but the rewards are sweet and sure for those who joyfully endure.
If you are lucky enough to have an incredible life of health, love, and peace – you are lucky enough. Enjoy!
by rayannethorn
The New Front Porch 