Eternal Stars: Chasing Olympic Dreams

By Carol Lowes

From childhood onward Anne loved to soar through the air in jumps and glide as a competitve figure skater. Sexual abuse threatened her life yet circumstances propelled her to the Worlds then Olympic Games. What would the outcome be if all Anne's desires and dreams for a medal and marriage came true?
As a child Anne made a commitment to Jesus and to follow the teachings of her local Baptist chuch. This led to a life of expectations and personal challenges but not a loss of conviction. It also set Anne up for dependancy on her husband and continuing issues with sexual exploitation.

Find out how Anne and her friends found closure and started down a path to healing and restoration from brokeness. Take the journey with Anne, an unlikely champion who earned many personal bests on the ice and finally Olympic glory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823011716

Carol Lowes

Victoria Bakersfield is a pen name for an author and journalist. She graduated from Carleton University with a combined honors degree in journalism and English literature in 1997.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

I ’VE NEVER SEEN anything as beautiful, 7-year old Anne gushed.

Wisps of Anne’s breath swept Sparrow-with-Eagle Wings’ nose and cheeks. It was Friday night and the pair of five year old girls stood on the wooden benches in the front row of a packed arena. A hush fell over the crowd. The men on the ice tossed their partners in unison high into the air. The momentary gleam of blades flashed together with the sequined white satin and spandex. They seamlessly glided covering all the entire ice surface to the Moody Blues famous hit Nights in White Satin; then they left the ice. Newly acquaintance friends, Sparrow admitted to Anne she had only ever seen this sort of thing on television. Then the slow melancholy of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata filled the arena.

Anne heard a man nearby ask: What is it they’re doing? What’s that move called? His wife, whispered back: A death spiral.

There was the fluttering billow and cresting of purple ruffles. I’m not sure I like it then, he gruffled. Hmm, I don’t like the name but I do kind of like it. I can’t believe I said that out loud.

I do too, his wife smiled.

Anne overheard every word and daydreamed about being just like that woman on the ice.

The skater held her partner’s hand as she circled him, her face coming dangerously close to the ice. Sparrow thought it was achingly romantic. Madeline, who sat behind the girls, usually thought figure skating performances were excessive and tacky; however, the performances we were witnessing on this particular night she really enjoyed. She even said it was the most dazzle to happen in our small town. We always knew though, it would never draw the same numbers as the NHL.

I’ll bet we could do that with the right help and a lot of work, blurted Sparrow.

I don’t know, Anne said somewhat doubtfully. I sure want to but do you really think we could ever be perfect like she is?

Yes, if we just stop doubting and truly believe it, we can do anything! asserted Sparrow with her cool confidence. I know at least you could. I’m not as sure about me though ‘cause I don’t know if this is what anyone like me has ever done. But you will be a great skater. You’ll soar just like that. Sparrow asserted with confidence. Just believe it and have some faith. I have faith in you.

Sparrow’s grandmother predicted that Sparrow would soar like an eagle through the storms of life and Anne knew that this assurance was where Sparrow’s full name, Sparrow-with-Eagle-Wings, had come from. She lifted a beaded necklace from her neck. Sparrow’s grandmother Sheila made this and gave it to her before she left her home for her foster parents. Sparrow passed it to Anne and she placed it over her head.

As Anne admired it, Sparrow smiled and said, My grandmother said whoever wore this would make it in life. She said she hoped it would make me feel protected, and I am feeling protected, so now that I’m sure of that, it is your turn.

Now you’re being ridiculous, said Anne. You said you skated on your grandmother’s pond before you came to live with the family at the church, and I have never skated once. What makes you think that I would be a skater or that you wouldn’t be as good as them at skating?

Maybe, but I believe you can do it Anne! Just pray for it over and over, after all, what could it hurt if it’s what God wants, then it will happen, Sparrow profoundly stated.

Madeline and her fellow Baptist friend Yvonne Carringstone were listening to the girls. They both smiled looking at each other as they heard the girls gush about what the skaters wore and marvelled at how they could glide and spin with such finesse. The girls began whispering then turned around to their mothers and asked for skating lessons.

I guess we could afford that, Madeline smiled. Some basic lessons aren’t likely to cost an arm and a leg and it would fill some of your free time quite nicely instead of parking your bottom in front of the TV set.

I think we could swing it too, nodded Yvonne.

To these rural women this show was somewhat cheap and tacky but just like the girls they still loved it but didn’t care for actual grandeur. This was about as close as they came to glamour beyond their own Walmart, K-Mart and J.C. Penney clothing and jewelry that was actually very expensive for their tastes and price ranges.

After a few quiet moments Anne turned to Sparrow realizing how much the necklace must have meant to her. It was all that she actually had left from her grandmother and Anne had never known her own parents or even who they were much less had any object so precious.

I want you for a best friend, said Anne hopefully.

Sure, Sparrow cheerfully replied.

This decision to have Sparrow as her best friend didn’t sit well with Summer and Sarah. These girls each accused Anne of betrayal in declaring Sparrow as her very best friend. Summer and Sarah considered themselves Anne’s closest friends.

These new besties were at the arena every Saturday morning because after that night at the town’s figure skating carnival, they joined the CanSkate group for beginner skaters. That Friday night proved pivotal in cementing a friendship that was to span several generations for Anne and Sparrow.

Anne noticed someone wearing a glittery shirt. Would we ever wear that to skate? asked Anne incredulously.

I would, said Sparrow.

I don’t know. I’m not sure I would. It does sparkle like my top. The top Anne was wearing read: Leave a little glitter wherever you go. Sparrow greatly admired it and agreed wholeheartedly with the idea they should sparkle.

You don’t really know that yet, observed Sparrow. We’re kids. It’s pretty enough. Why did you ask then?

I’m afraid of what I might have to do. I want to have a good life.

Why, isn’t your life good? Sparrow’s eyes penetrated the semi-darkness of the front row where they stood.

Yes, I am lucky, but sometimes things aren’t so good. I don’t want to have to do things I don’t want to. Anne appeared reticent.

I feel the same way. I wish I didn’t always have to do what adults want. I didn’t really feel like coming that Friday night because I didn’t know anyone. Now I’m glad I did. I met you.

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One morning it was quite early and Anne noticed Richard, her adoptive father, outside working the soil behind the spot where they had built an extension onto their brick house. After a fairly sizable square was dug up and the soil was worked, Madeline planted rose bushes next to the trellis archway. This trellis opened onto the square courtyard which was bordered by flower gardens that wound their way around the house.

Upon completion, Anne and Clair (her teenaged sister) stood for photos. Anne stood while Clair bent and put her arm around her little sister.

A few hours later, Anne and her mother had grocery shopping and some errands to run that brought them to Main Street. They walked from the parking lot behind the storefronts to the sidewalk. The bank was the first place to stop at. When they came out, they stopped because Madeline observed Nancy Flemming bobbing in and out of the shops and a bit breathless. So they quickly caught up with her.

When will we see you in church? Madeline said after the hellos and how-are-yous were exchanged.

I really hope that we can be back to our regular attendance soon, Mrs. Flemming spoke a bit embarrassed. She recounted at some length her husband’s concerns with his dairy cattle and the need to get the spring ploughing done. It was planting time and he was far behind. The corn and soybean crops needed to get planted on time and weather had been fickle.

Growing bored listening to what seemed like a very unexciting and tedious adult conversation, Anne began humming to herself. She was happily amused by singing a Sunday school song: There were 12 disciples Jesus called to help him: Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, his brother John, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alpheus. Thaddeus, Simon, Judas and Bartholomew.

Did I forget anyone? Wondering aloud, Anne began counting on her fingers. Yes, that makes 12.

After coming home and unloading the grocery bags from the car, Madeline asked Anne to practise on the piano. Soon Anne was going over the easiest and most rudimentary versions of several Christmas carols. As she played Good King Wenceslas, Away in a Manger and We Three Kings.

Please play your recital songs for half an hour, Madeline instructed from the kitchen. Anne was in a sky blue living room which was down the hallway from the sunny kitchen in which Madeline was making toasted western sandwiches and potato salad. When the stove timer went off and her half hour of practising was completed, Madeline and Anne sat down at the handcrafted oval wooden table for lunch. They chatted for awhile discussing her upcoming piano recital.

Anne was nervous for the following night. It was a piano recital in which all the students of Mary’s home-based business would perform. She had never been in front of a crowd before and none of her friends would be there so she would only know her mother and Claire. Her father never came to those kinds of events.

Looking at the table, Anne observed that Madeline’s role as her mother sometimes involved inglorious tasks such as making sandwiches. Then she thought her father had made few sandwiches for himself. Only once did he make one for his lunch and then with some complaint because if no other female was in the house to make him food, even at the stove, Anne was told to.

Anne always pondered, was making a sandwich somehow not what a real man did? She knew he could do it so why was his job so difficult that he never had enough rest and relaxation. Anne became aware for the first time that life never gets easier once you get older. Parents decide what you eat. They also have to find some way to put food on the table. When Anne said grace she asked God in front of Madeline to help her find some way to be a mother, wife and one who could also feed her family.

There’s simply no guarantee my future husband or a man I fall in love with will be able to support our family on his own, said Anne. I want to marry for love so I might make a man’s sandwiches.

Yes, times are changing, Madeline agreed. I work. I guess you’re growing up in a world where most women of our class do.

Clair arrived home and joined the conversation at the kitchen table. Plunking down her handbag after an afternoon out shopping she looked into Anne’s blue eyes and said, A woman is about more than making a man’s sandwiches, especially in God’s eyes. You don’t need to worry about providing. God will provide for you. You need to worry about developing your abilities and your school work so you have a better life. You said that’s what you want.

You’re right, said Madeline. Don’t just think that a person who loves you only cares about what you can do for them. Women are not a sandwich vending machine for men, she paused. No one knows what I can do. I should test the limits and break through.

Try for some new gifts, said Clair. The kind that can take you places other than being a wife and mother because those are almost givens for most people. Don’t be insecure. You sometimes lack confidence in yourself.

You might think there aren’t rules to life, said Madeline looking at both Clair and Anne. But maybe those rules short-circuit us to some extent from thinking about others and consideration. I’m glad to see you’re grateful to us. Just because I make your father’s sandwiches, and yours, doesn’t mean you have to have the same dynamics in your homes when you get married. Most of us here do but there are lot of other ways to live. Two of your aunts don’t have husbands; one of them just never married and the other lost hers.

Whether she made a sandwich or not, his death and a sense of gratitude are not enough reason for her not to use her abilities because some women live in poverty because they assume they control their lives, said Clair. God didn’t have another husband for her and with children she certainly needed abilities to provide for a larger family.

They finished chatting and the rest of Anne’s day was filled with helping with chores and having some play time.

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The next evening at 5:00 p.m., Mary welcomed her students and their families and friends to the packed Baptist church. Mary was the regular pianist, organist and choir instructor and really loved it. She had all of her senior students perform classical music from sheets she had recently purchased. Claire’s eyes were fastened on Anne as she played Good King Wenceslas.

Anne was happy her number was over. She loved all the music and her heart sang to its own tunes. She listened intensely as everyone played. Children of all ages took their turn, individually often playing as well, or even more complex pieces of music, than the adults. Just when Anne thought it would be over, Mary walked to the front and announced that she would be playing several of her own classical compositions.

About half way through the first number, Madeline looked at Anne with a puzzled look and whispered What do you think so far? Do you want to keep playing piano or do you want to skate?

Anne nearly fell off her chair. I want desperately to do both Mom.

You may have to give up one. I’m not the cookie-baking kind of mother who sews her daughter’s own skating costumes but seeing that I had another girl you can keep both sets of lessons for now.

Madeline went back to part-time nursing. This decision worked out for Anne because she definitely did not want to give up skating and she felt equally passionate about the piano.

A new young coach took over teaching the skating lessons for the younger students who showed promise. Anne watched the teenage girls giggling and flirting with this new coach. Coach Smith certainly was cute. These were the kinds of things they tee-heed about. Even Sparrow agreed that this guy was cute. The two girls couldn’t figure out why the teenage girls were making such a production over a guy.

While Anne was watching these teenage girls get silly over this new coach, she recalled a recent conversation she had with her Aunt Mary. Her aunt was not concerned that Rebecca and Anne, Anne’s cousins through adoption, were thinking about boys and getting married down life’s road.

Do you think your life’s a mess right now? Mary blurted out.

Yes. Anne replied.

Then you’ll need a man.

So he can mess it up more, laughed Anne.

No a Christian man, we need some more of the right sort of men, said Mary.

Yes that would help but actually even he can make mistakes. I only hope that I’ll never be one of them, Anne said. I’ll pray something like that. You should bring him good not destruction or harm.

Later that day, Anne began to think and question if she could find a husband someday and whether God would help her to do that. Could this help her carve a path to doing more than just surviving? She decided she wanted to prosper. For a seven year old girl this seemed bold.

Can I win in life? Can I go on to do great things for You and what would that look like? I want to be a mommy. But first, I want to be a wife. Will you bring me all those good things? Would you bless me God, if I’m truly sorry for my sins? Can this happen in spite of the fact that maybe I had to do stuff that some people would think turned me into a bad girl?

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Meanwhile, at the Baptist Church in the weeks that followed, Douglas Flemming was made a deacon and a new young pastor and his family joined the church. Also, Anne’s parents to her great delight went to try the Chinese food at the new restaurant in town. This was a restaurant coach Smith loved to go to. Being from the nearby city, the twenty four year old coach didn’t have much of an exciting life. He also worked as the drama and English teacher at the local high school.

There, inside the Chinese restaurant, there was an extensive collection of photos of a tiny skater. She was the daughter of the Chinese family that owned the restaurant. As time went on, the family would add their daughter’s trophies and medals