A MIRACLE AMONG US

OK.... so I hope none of you will be hurt or feel slighted by this.....but I have to say that Beth Miracle has become one of my favorite people. Not just for the obvious reason - that she has a wonderful name.....I mean...how can anyone resist loving someone with the name "Miracle?" But I have to tell you - when I met Beth, I felt the name was a perfect fit. Those of us who have been blessed to have Beth be a part of our lives have been delighted, and tickled, and amazed by this wonderful young woman. I first met Beth about three years ago, when she stopped by a tuber sale at the GESA credit union. She shared that her dad, like my dad, had been a "seed gatherer," constantly collecting and depositing seeds or seedpods from flowers that they liked in their respective pockets. Her dad, like mine, had been a lover of dahlias, and in fact, had even grown dahlias in the same part of the state, the northwestern corridor, near the Canadian border. Just hearing Beth talk about her dad, and watching her eyes light up as she reminisced about this man who reminded me so much of my beloved father, drew me in like a moth to a flame. I just couldn't resist, and when she joined the NCW Dahlia society, I felt like I had another sister in the group. She is effervescent in her joy and her excitement about each of the "babies" in her nursery, and her impetuosity in adding "just one more tuber" to her carefully designed garden plan is as refreshing as a spring rain. She made me smile, she made me laugh, she made me be just as bad as she was about never saying "no" to another perfect, wonderful, beautiful, cute, unusual, unique, amazing variety, promising more joy than Disneyland. Her enthusiasm and zest has been so contagious, infecting so many who know and love her with a childlike joy at the emergence of each new shoot through the alpaca-pooped and composted ground. She is pure delight. Beth was in a rather nasty bicycle accident last Sunday, ending up at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Beth and her husband Charlie have become quite committed cyclists in the past year, and have been preparing to participate in the 2012 Seattle to Portland (STP) Ride. Part of their Sunday routine includes traveling down the Sleepy Hollow Road out of Sunnyslope (where Beth and Charlie live), and ending up the the D'Anjou Bakery, off Highway 2. The bakery provides sweet rewards for the ardent and sometimes exhausted cyclists who make it through their doors every weekend, and Beth especially enjoyed the incentive of fresh baked scones or cinnamon rolls. It was pretty windy last Sunday, as those of us who spent anytime outdoors that day discovered, and apparently a pretty strong gust caught little Beth, riding on her new lightweight bike, causing enough disruption in her ride to throw her off balance. She flew over the handlebars, landing on her face and left side, at a pretty high rate of speed, causing significant abrasion and a slight contusion to her brain. She had a lot of damage to her face, her shoulders and her tongue, and until around 3:00 pm today, has been on a ventilator and feeding tube. She has had several procedures to repair the damage done as a result of this impact, and today, we have been told that she is breathing on her own, and she can finally talk again. I can only imagine how difficult it has been for Beth, a classic extrovert, to be unable to speak because of that darn tube down her throat! Her sister Brooke called me a few hours ago, to tell me this news: Brooke took a picture of the first and only dahlia in bloom at the Tony DeRooy Memorial Garden, Gallery Art Deco, and sent it to Beth, saying that Fernie, Sherry and Linda wanted her to see it. Brooke reported that Beth sent back a message, in her own voice, that it is "just beautiful." This is our Beth.......so strong, so full of life, so dahlia-crazy......We know that anyone who knows Beth can't help but love her, and if you want to keep her in your thoughts, hearts, and prayers as she recovers, I'm sure she will get better even sooner!