And then Arden died.
When we left Kalaloch and returned to cell service land I retrieved an urgent message from Amy. I called her, but she didn't answer her phone. I called Josh and found out that our mutual friend Arden Balyeat had drowned earlier in the week. I was stunned. We were three hours from West Seattle still. We were planning to go to Amy's for a bbq reunion with Arden, Perry, Erika, Cori, Amy, and Julie. When we arrived in West Seattle the members of our moms group (founded in Spring 2002 when our first borns were infants) were at Amy's house. Arden's memorial was the next day. It was inexplicably horrific to realize the huge loss to Lucas (Arden's 7 year old son) and Jeff (Arden's husband) as well as to family and friends.
Arden and Lucas had been swimming in the Skykomish and were overpowered by the river. There was a lengthy struggle in the river and Arden eventually pushed Lucas toward the shore and he miraculously saved himself. She lost her air, took in too much water and drowned. It's just too sad. I will miss Arden. She was a beautiful, strong, funny, smart, amazing woman who loved Lucas fiercely.
No comments:
Post a Comment