Personal Stories

She was a beautiful chubby cheeked little girl who had just learned to hold her head up and smile.  I felt so blessed to have 3 happy healthy children, and to have 2 girls so close together in age made me ridiculously happy.  I had visions of dressing them in matching outfits, and how they would be each other’s best friends!  Life, while busy, sleepless and stressful seemed complete.  Two weeks before Christmas we were busy with holiday preparations, I had just mailed out all the Christmas cards with pictures of my three beautiful children.

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Ever since my dad remarried I had been constantly asking him and my stepmom for them to give me a little sister or brother. And on December 31st, 1993 my little brother Quentin was born. I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to go visit my dad so I could finally meet him. I was six years old, pretty young, but I was still allowed to hold him in my arms as long as I was seated. I still have a picture of that day, the day I sat on my grandparents couch with my little Quentin in my arms and a huge smile on my face. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was so happy and so proud to have a little brother. I remember how sad I was when my vacation ended and I had to go back to my mom and say goodbye to my beautiful, precious little brother. I also remember feeling jealous that my cousins who lived in the same area as my dad where probably going to get to see him more often then me… When I got back home and returned to school there was only one subject on my mind, and that’s all I would talk about: Quentin.

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On October first, 1980, our son Steven was born. He was our third child, but the first boy, so his birth was a joyous occasion for my husband Ted and me. When Steven was just nineteen days old, I began attending classes at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) to complete the fourth and final phase of my apprenticeship as a machinist. I had been the first woman to enroll in the Machinist Apprenticeship Program at NAIT. Another woman, Elsie, had started a year after me and was registered in that class. I did not want to lose the distinction of being the first woman to complete the program, so it seemed important to attend that term. I found a babysitter living near us who was willing to look after Steven while I attended classes for eight weeks. Our daughters, Tammy and Terri, in grades six and five, ate lunch at school and could handle being alone for an hour every day. I planned to take some time off to be with my new son after I achieved journeyman standing.

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