Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Where do I even begin? My mom first met Donna on September 29th (we won't share the year) when they worked their first shift together at Bluewater Health. She was so excited because her daughter Julie was in labour up in the birthing until welcoming Donna's first grandchild, Randy into the world. Fast-forward 3 and a half years when Donna took my mom and Randy to the Birchwood Mall, where Donna, ever the doting matriarch, sported the same pair of antlers as Randy and joined in singing with her as Randy belted out Christmas carols in the food court while they had lunch. She was just fearless. One time she was driving my mom home after they finished work at 11:30pm, and there was a pickup truck ahead of them. Donna tailgated the truck and honked a few times until the truck stopped and the driver got out. My mom, being more shy and quiet by nature, was afraid he was going to remove Donna from the car by her hair. Turned out he was a very nice young man who just asked her what he was doing wrong. She simply answered, "You're just not going fast enough." She was such a spunky character, it could be hard to keep up with her. When I first started working with her, Donna was very welcoming and ready to help me with anything I needed. She also roped me, as well as quite a few others in our department, into her obsession with gossip magazines. She was particularly interested in the royal family. When Diana died, she was sure there was a conspiracy behind it. I'm sure, just as soon as she's reunited with Don and her other loved ones, she'll be on the case to find out what the truth is for herself. That would be just like her. A feeling of sadness at having to leave her loved ones here behind; a feeling of joy being reunited with loved ones who've already passed on, and a sense of excitement and adventure to learn all the answers to things that fascinated her about the world she lived in. With her Alzheimer's, and my own mother's early onset dementia, my mom thought they both still had lots of time and laughs ahead before riding off into the sunset together, But Donna, always on the move, just had to go now. We're so grateful we got to have several good visits with her before she passed, and we'll never forget the hugs and kisses we got. It was like she knew it would be the last time we were all together. We'll always smile to think of her, and miss her terribly. There will only ever be one of you Donna, and we're so grateful we got to have you in our lives. With all our love, Kara and Dawn Overy (and Jaime too!)
