Real people. Real stories. Real Angels.
Before I get into today's story, I have a little housekeeping to take care of.
In the last episode, with Chandra, Wendy, and Victoria... we posted the wrong photo of Alan J. Friedman when we were talking about Victoria Clements' story. So I just want to take a moment to set that right. Because this man deserves so much more than a mistaken photo. He wrote over seven thousand songs in his lifetime... we're talking the lyrics to Winnie the Pooh, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Hobbit... the list goes on and on. Alan J. Friedman was an extraordinary human being, and he passed in 2021. Victoria, I'm so sorry we got that wrong. It's fixed now.
And while I'm introducing things... this is Teddy. My little man. He sits right here in the chair beside me while I record every single episode. When I walk him, people always ask what kind of dog he is. I look at them very seriously and I say: he's a mastiff. And then he does what he always does, and I have to explain... he's a mastiff in a little multi-poo body. That's just his personality. Every Tuesday over on Instagram and Facebook, Teddy has opinions about life. Most of them are about me. It's called Teddy Tuesday, and I hope while you're listening to this, you have somebody keeping you company too.
Now... today's episode has to do with family. And given that it's just after Thanksgiving, that feels like exactly the right place to begin.
The Angels Had a Plan for Curtis
I want to take you back a few years... back to when my oldest son Curtis was living in Arizona with me in Scottsdale. Lovely man, Curtis. He truly is. And I need you to know a bit of the backstory to understand just how extraordinary what I'm about to share really is.
Curtis was in the process of getting legalized in Arizona, and you're not supposed to leave the country while that's happening. But his best buddy asked him to be best man at his wedding. And Curtis, being Curtis, went anyway... against my better wishes, I might add.
On the way back, the boys decided to drive to Seattle and have Curtis fly home from there to Phoenix. Which happened to be on October 14th. His birthday.
He got stopped at the border.
Curtis is not what you would call skilled at fibbing. When the border officers pulled him aside, he pretty much rolled over on everything short of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. He was banned from the country.
His mama was devastated. Truly. I loved having him in Arizona with me. The boys all turned the car around and headed back, phoned their buddies and said Curtis wasn't going anywhere... so they had a party that evening.
And at that party, Curtis connected with a lovely young woman named Melissa.
Whatever it was that the Angels were doing in that moment, getting him stopped at that border on that night... I think about it now and I just have to shake my head. Because that party was the one that sealed the deal. Curtis and Melissa fell in love, got married, and had my two precious grandsons. Kaiden and Carter. My heart.
When Life Takes the Wind Out of Your Sails
When Kaiden was about five and Carter was three, Melissa was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
I don't have words for what that was like for our family. I won't try to dress it up. She didn't survive that diagnosis. She passed away.
I was in Costa Rica with my team when Curtis called me. He said: Mom, I don't think she's gonna make it.
I hopped a plane as quickly as I could. I didn't get there in time... just by a couple of hours. But I stayed on with Curtis and the boys for a few weeks, just to love everyone up.
And then... the second night after Melissa passed... something happened that I have never forgotten.
Kaiden got up very early in the morning and went running to his dad's bedroom. Daddy, Daddy, Mommy just came and visited me. And he told Curtis the whole story. She had sat on the bed and talked to him. He said it was so cool. She came to visit me.
I get goosies every single time I tell that part. Every time.
I know so many of you have had experiences like this. Where someone you've lost has found a way to let you know they're still there. And if you have... please know you are not alone in that.
Pack a Bag
Curtis managed, the way strong dads do. He kept going, kept showing up for those boys. But mamas know when their sons are in breakdown... even when they're putting on a brave and wonderful front.
I kept flying back and forth, back and forth. And eventually I got a download from my Angels.
I called Curtis one day and I said: Honey, I want you to pack a bag. Pack a bag for you and pack a bag for Kaiden and Carter. Just your clothes. You're moving to the island. You need to be here with me.
He said: Mom, I wouldn't even know what to do with the house. With all the stuff. My brain can't manage it.
I said: You don't have to manage it. You just have to pack a bag and get here. World Tree is hiring, so you've got a job to come to.
Then I called my BFF Cheryl Sokin. Before y'all want to go phone her... she's retired. But at the time, she was the go-to gal. I said: Cheryl, go over there and sell the furniture, pack it up, donate the toys. They do not need all those toys. And she did. She sorted every bit of it.
Curtis and the boys arrived just a couple of days later. I found them a beautiful house to rent in Brentwood Bay. Which, by the way, is still the house they're living in now... because not even a year in, the owner called to say she was moving to Vernon and wanted to sell it. Curtis and I bought it together. It's been a wonderful home for those boys.
The Nanny Search
Once Curtis and the boys were settled, I started spending months looking for a nanny. Someone to get the boys up in the morning, make dinner, be responsible, be present. Carter wasn't in school yet, so this person needed to be there all day.
And I'm going to tell you about some of the people who showed up.
I'm not really good at getting up early on Mondays. And: Do I have to work Fridays too? I like to get the weekend started early. And: Is there cooking involved? And: Could you pick me up and drop me off? No. I need you to have your own wheels.
For the love of God. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I spent months at this, and nothing was working. And the whole time... through all of it... there was a voice in my head saying the same thing, over and over.
Call Alana. Call Alana. You need to call Alana.
Now. Alana was a friend I had made when I was living in Arizona. One of the winters I went back down to Scottsdale to thaw out my blood, I ended up living with two incredible women... Karen and Alana. Alana was stunning and warm and lovey. She could not walk past a child without stopping to cuddle it. She had always said she wanted a baseball team.
But she lived in Phoenix. And I kept thinking: what is that going to look like?
The voice didn't care what I thought. It just kept going. Call Alana. Call Alana. For over a month.
Finally, one morning, it was practically yelling.
For the love of God... okay. I will call Alana RIGHT NOW. Angels, just stop it.
I picked up my phone. Still in bed. Before I had even had my coffee. And I called her.
I said: Hi sweetheart, I have a proposition for you. How would you like to be a nanny for six months minus one day?
Six months minus one day. Because that's how long a visitor can stay in Canada.
She said: What? And I explained the whole thing. I said I'd pay for her ticket, she could stay with me for the first two weeks so the boys could get used to her and Curtis could meet her... because it had been about a year and a half since he lost Melissa, and you have to be respectful of that. You don't just bring another woman into that space.
And she said: You are calling me today. I have a job interview today and I don't even want to take it, but I need money. I have to work.
I said: You've got it. Come.
We didn't call it a job, by the way. She was a good girlfriend of mine, coming to help us in need. That's what it was.
Two days later, she packed a suitcase. It was February... just before Valentine's Day. And I think that's rather apropos, honestly... because she has such a big heart.
What Alana Brought
Kaiden and Carter embraced her completely. Just opened right up to her.
And what I want to tell you about Alana is this. On Mother's Day, on Valentine's Day, on Melissa's birthday... she made sure the boys did wonderful things to honour their mother and her memory. She just knew. Nobody told her to do that. She had the intuitiveness to walk into that family and hold space for Melissa at the same time as she held space for the boys. I still find that extraordinary.
Curtis blossomed. He no longer had to worry from work about whether the kids were okay, whether they were being looked after properly. Single parents out there... you know what that worry feels like. To have that lifted? It changes everything.
I thanked my Angels every single day for bringing this beautiful soul into our lives.
Now. Part of what Alana had committed to, when she came to stay, was finding her own replacement. Over those six months, she was supposed to start interviewing people for when she eventually had to go back to the United States. I trusted the process. I never asked how the interviews were going. And honestly, I never got a report.
About ten days before Alana's time was up, Curtis and Alana came over together.
Mom. We have something to tell you.
And I want you to know... there was already a little intuition happening for me in that moment. A little knowing.
I said: I can't wait to hear this.
They sat down and told me they had fallen in love.
And I said: Yes. Just that. Yes.
I used to say to Alana, back when we were all living together in Scottsdale, all three of us single... I used to say to her: One of these days, sweetheart, you are going to find the absolute perfect man.
I used to say to Curtis, after losing Melissa: I promise you, honey. One day you will love again.
To watch both of those things come true at the same time, through the same two people... I still don't quite have the words for that.
Carter's Broken Heart
Now I do have to share one more piece of this story, because it is just too precious not to.
When Curtis and Alana sat down with Kaiden and Carter to tell them they had fallen in love and were going to try to find a way for Alana to stay... we discovered something.
Carter had fallen in love with her too.
Which was not surprising when you think about it. He wasn't in school yet when Alana arrived. He had had her all to himself all day long, every day... hiking and going on picnics and having the best life imaginable.
And his dad had stolen his first girlfriend.
We had to have a very serious sit-down. Several conversations, actually. And eventually, Carter did come to see that maybe... with everything his daddy had been through... it might be okay to let Daddy have this girlfriend.
As long as we promised him that his relationship with Alana would never change.
And I just... my goodness. That little man.
That was now eight years ago. This coming year will be nine years that Curtis and Alana have been married. And every month, at the end of the month, they have a love day. A date night, just the two of them. I think that's one of the secrets right there. Kaiden is seventeen now. Carter is fourteen. And Alana, the woman who came with every intention of having a baseball team... told me recently that Kaiden and Carter totally fill up her mommy bucket. She's good.
What This Story Is Really About
If I hadn't listened to my Angels, I never would have called Alana.
And those same Angels had also worked things out long before I picked up that phone. They got Curtis stopped at a border. They sent him back to a party where he met Melissa. They gave those boys their mother, even for a short time. And then they brought someone in who would honour her memory and love those boys completely.
And they kept whispering the same name to me, one morning at a time, for over a month, until I finally sat up in bed and listened.
I'm the Angel lady. And even I waited too long.
But here's what I want you to take away from all of this. For those of you who have known loss... real loss... and can't imagine the way forward from where you're standing right now. What I watched happen in my own family tells me this: sometimes what you need is already on its way to you. You just have to stay open enough to let it arrive.
And listen. Even when it sounds ridiculous. Even before your coffee.
Your Turn
For all of you out there who have experienced loss, I hope this story gives you something to hold onto. Not a promise, and not a timeline... but a small, quiet reminder. That your Angels are paying attention. That they are working in ways you can't always see.
And if someone you love has walked through grief and come out the other side into something beautiful... I'd love to hear that story too. Send it.
Go to wendysburton.com to send your story, subscribe to the show, and find all the links below. Amy and the Angels is out now in audiobook, narrated by me... so if you'd rather listen than read, you can take Amy wherever you go.
And when you subscribe, you'll receive a little gift from me... a guide to help you meet your Angels, learn their names, and ask for those beautiful gifts that are already waiting for you.
Thank you, as always, for being here.
Stay curious. Follow the nudge.
And remember... we might not be winging it alone.
Real people. Real stories. Real Angels.
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