Beyond Expectations

The Hamiltons Glenda Evans was Sarah’s mother. Sarah never knew her mother as Glenda never returned home after Sarah’s birth. Glenda had a twenty-five year run with drug addiction, living homeless most of the time, in and out of shelters. One day she overdosed and miraculously recovered in a Helena hospital, thanks to the help of a kindly nurse who befriended her. During her stay she had a deep personal exchange with God as she fell in and out of consciousness. This encounter had a dramatic impact on her ability to make a commitment to herself to overcome her drug addiction. Her nurse, Adriane, helped her get into a rehab program where she lived for a year, got a GED, and an Associate’s Degree in Business. She thrived that year and when she was discharged, Adriane, her fairy godmother as Glenda liked to call her, was there to escort her back to Helena where she stayed with her friend. She immediately began looking for work and it wasn’t long when she found an opening in a law firm in Great Falls, the place she wanted to live. She was fortunate to land that job after some serious convincing of her new employer, Leonard. Adriane met Leonard through Glenda and they became lovers. She eventually moved into Leonard’s house because she was diagnosed with cancer which resulted in her death, a great loss to both Leonard and Glenda. Before she died, however, she helped Glenda realize that it was time for her to go find her daughter. Glenda had been drug free for ten years, had established herself in the community, and was fairly content with her life, not wanting to have any relationships with men because of the awful experiences she had with them when she was on drugs. Her experiences with men were strictly for business--to make money and pay for her drugs. Her feelings of wanting to avoid men would change when she decided to look for Sarah. She discovered Sarah was living in Denver and she flew there, going first to Charles’ office to announce who she was. Charles was stunned, but seeing a positive opportunity for both women, helped set up a meeting with Sarah the next day. Feeling intense anxiety at meeting her mother, Sarah was not her usual cordial self but neither was she rude. She invited Glenda to dinner that night and when Paul, the Crowe’s chauffeur, drove Glenda back to her hotel, she couldn’t help herself and began to cry. Paul talked to her and Glenda confessed to him she felt she had made a mistake finding Sarah. When Paul returned to the mansion he felt compelled to talk to Charles and Sarah about what had happened and Sarah was ashamed of herself for her behavior. Paul drove them back to Glenda’s hotel to talk with her and apologize. They talked through the night, finding a connection between them and Glenda was invited to go home with them and spend a few days. Ultimately, Sarah and Charles asked Glenda to move to Denver and live with them. The following Sunday, the family went to church and when Glenda was introduced to Reverend Jeffrey Hamilton, with whom she was smitten as was he. Charles and Sarah were amused at the apparent sparks between the two and teased Glenda on the way home. The Reverend Jeffrey Hamilton had a Ph.D. in psychology and was an ordained minister in an Evangelical Lutheran church in Littleton. He was a very handsome, forty-five year old man with curly black hair with streaks of gray throughout. This titan of a man had an endless smile, his demeanor one of extreme happiness. He took Glenda’s hand when they were introduced and held it longer than necessary. He spent a great deal of time with the Crowe’s that week, getting acquainted with Glenda but was sorely disappointed when she abruptly flew back to Great Falls early one morning without any warning. Charles called him and gave him a heads up so Jeff could go to the airport to see Glenda off but he missed her by minutes, watching her walk to her gate. His phone rang and Glenda apologized for her abrupt departure. They had a brief conversation and Jeff promised to call her. That call was never made because he became gravely ill and was hospitalized for a week. When Glenda flew back to Denver the following weekend, disappointed in not hearing from him, Paul informed her of Jeff’s illness. She had him drive her to the hospital, only to find another woman visiting him. She was enraged with jealousy. Charles called Jeff to let him know Glenda was back in town and revealed Glenda’s visit to the hospital. Jeff, realizing what Glenda had seen, went to the mansion the next morning after his discharge from the hospital where he and Glenda had a major confrontation. But they were able to understand each other’s perspective on this and resolved the issue. After much consternation that week, Glenda made the decision to move to Denver to live with her daughter and Jeff offered to drive her back to Great Falls, help her pack, and drive her back to Denver. She accepted, intrigued by the idea of spending time with Jeff, and so they made the journey. However, while Jeff stayed with Glenda, the relationship moved to a higher level and after spending a week together, they became lovers and by the end of two weeks they were married. Glenda had a special gift. God occasionally talked to her and when that happened, the slightest aura would surround her. Jeff was privy to this, discovering it the first time Glenda visited the church. The church had emptied and Glenda had made her way toward the altar, looking at the colored glass, above, of Jesus holding a lamb. He had to look twice to make sure he was seeing what he thought he saw. It didn’t take him long to realized she had a special relationship with God that not even he had. How ironic, he thought. Glenda had indicated to him before they got married she didn’t want to be married to the church, she wanted to be able to balance her personal life and church. He was not the least bit offended by this, only amused. In spite of Glenda’s comments, she was of great help to her husband at critical moments, always by his side when he needed her most. Jeff was forty-five and Glenda was fifty-two and one of the reasons they married so quickly—they didn’t want to waste precious time, not to mention they were totally in love with each other. Two months after their wedding Glenda and Jeff were hit with the shock of their lives—Glenda was pregnant. She and Jeff were given the option to terminate the pregnancy because of Glenda’s age but they both opted to keep the baby. They knew that this child was a wonderful gift from God and had faith that this was part of His plan for them—He would take care of them. And so Glenda’s miracle continued.