Mary Anne and Kate...

other people I met up with while I was in SLC for New Years:

This is Mary Anne. I used to babysit her. :) Yes, and now, 15 years later, we just get to be really good friends. She was in town for the holidays from China. (I hope to visit her this year...I just need to get some funds) and we caught up over lunch at Cucina's in the Aves. Afterwards, we headed over to the Govna's mansion, which was her home until just 6 months ago when her dad became Ambassador of China (hence the move). And with the help of Mary Anne's old friend Ivan the Security Guard, we snuck in and took some last pics of Mary Anne in her lovely home.

Mary Anne is incredible. As her babysitter, it was her younger siblings I mostly took care of. At age 9 and 10, she simply just sat at the piano and practiced all night long.  Years later, she takes my breath away as I watch her play. And it's why she is in China. She is performing and teaching Piano. She's always been kind and good to me no matter the circumstances of my family, and to each person in my family. I wish I could say that for everyone—it’s odd I can’t. And for that, I greatly appreciate her.

After our quick little photo shoot and talks of dating, we parted ways. I got a text from her a few hours later that made my day.  ..."Lauren, don't ever settle. You are a catch!"

Thanks Mary Anne.  :)

 kate and lauren.

The same day and hours later, I met up with Kate at Starbucks. I hadn't seen her since I moved to Idaho, and we really needed a moment together. Kate--wow. Our story; her story—amazing. As high schoolers, we were close friends. So close, that as seniors, we planned our last Spring Break trip together, along with our friend Jenava. On April 6, 1998, we set out for St. George, UT in my car, Jenava driving, Kate sleeping in the back. We got as far as Scipio, when my car rolled 6 times. When I finally managed to get myself out of my seat-belt and out of the car, Kate was lying about 30 feet from the vehicle, on the side of the road, surrounded by other passer-by’s who stopped to help. I vividly remember the 20 minute ambulance ride to Fillmore. I watched as the doctors tore off Kate clothes and shout that she wasn't breathing and couldn't find a vein to put in an IV…The doctors shouted to her, calling her "Katie", asking her to respond… and she didn’t. I tried to tell them her name was Kate, not Katie, as I cried.

At the hospital, Kate was prepared for life flight to Salt Lake. After the helicopter took off, Jenava and I laid in the Fillmore hospital, received a blessing by doctors of the same faith,  and Jenava's dad and my dad drove together to Fillmore to pick up their daughters. We drove from Fillmore straight to LDS hospital where Kate lay in the ICU. The first people we saw in the waiting room were her parents and family. Everyone burst into tears. We still didn't know what was in store for Kate.

2 months later Kate was wheeled out on stage in her wheel chair during graduation and received a standing ovation. She finished the year off with home schooling. Today, she is walking. The only permanence left from April 6, 1998 are plates and pins in and on her pelvis, road rash scars up and down her body, and pins in an elbow that will not extend fully.  A true miracle. ...And the miracle continues.

After graduation, and after Kate was able to walk again, she wasn't without continuous struggles. Many personal. She found herself deeply lost at points in her life. And even had a relationship with a man who now finds himself on America's Most Wanted.

Years later, she met a man named Jeff Lasson. I remember the call I received a few years back: “Hey Lauren, so crazy, but I met a guy--a good guy. ...And I'm going to church with him, and things are great, and I'd love to see you and hang out.”

And we did. She got a job at the same spa where I was working. We had so much fun planning her wedding and I was honored to be a bridesmaid.

But what was most incredible, was what Jeff and Kate discovered while they were dating...

Jeff's mother sat in LDS hospital at the same time Kate did years ago in 1998. After a complication in recovery from surgery, Jeff's mom passed away April 11 in the ICU of LDS hospital. It was four days after our accident, just rooms from where Kate lay fighting for her life.

Despite different beliefs and faiths, I don’t think many can help but see the miraculous happenings in the car accident that took place years ago. From a doctor who did CPR on Kate who laid on the side of the road and got her breathing again 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived, to Jenava who felt the presence of her mother, who years ago passed, helping to keep us safe, to the couple from Nevada who took me to their car, wrapped me in a blanket, wiped the blood off my face, and said a prayer as we waited for the ambulance…

Years later Jeff and Kate met. And to remember the time they sat together in LDS hospital, one life being saved and another being taken, not knowing each other at the time, Kate wears Jeff's mother’s wedding ring. It’s beautiful.

Kate, as you can see, is also beautiful. And she makes other people beautiful too with her incredible talents. take a look at her blog /portfolio.