10/04/2024
Editing this gallery was so special to me. It brought back so many wonderful memories of her parents and our childhoods. Every single photo in her gallery I saw a perfect mixture of her mom and dad.
Her smile reminded me of a time when I was in high school and we went out to lunch and the roads were terrible. I mean terrible. I had a small Pontiac Sunfire and we were heading back to school about to stop (slide actually) at the stop sign in North Pole near the train tracks and park. As I looked in the rear view mirror I see her dad, driving his dad's single cab Ford, also trying to stop sliding right toward me. It was such slow motion because it was that slick. After he slid into the back of my car he sticks his head out the window and has the biggest grin, that replicates Ana's smile in many of these photos. For some reason we were all laughing. No damage was done to either vehicle because we were going super slow, the roads were just THAT slick. When we got out of our vehicles at school he then decided to narrate EXACTLY what happened, even though we all just experienced it, in true Jeff fashion with all the hand gestures, adjectives and theatrics.
When I met Ana's mom, Christine, later in High School and working at her mom's coffee hut we became fast friends. She was Tanya's roommate and eventually mine. We were inseparable and once you spend a few minutes around her you quickly know that she is so passionate about the relationships she has in her life. While I am sure I have many incriminating stories to share about our antics throughout the years one thing has always remained consistent and that's her loyalty and compassion she has for the people in her life. A couple years ago when I was pregnant with Ruby I was at the softball fields in Delta watching Ana and one of my niece's games. I was sitting at the opposite field that Ana was playing and a foul ball was hit and I was watching the other game and it hit me. OUT OF NOWHERE, I swear she stopped the game, Ana appears checking on me to make sure that I am ok. That is 100% her mom. In that moment nothing else mattered.
When Ana turns 21 we'll sit down and I'll share all the wonderful, embarrassing stories I have of her mom, dad and I but until then...
I present to you...
Anamia Isabella | Class of 2025