There comes a time in the life of every parent when they have to watch their child move out and leave home for the first time.
It goes without saying that every parent misses their children, but Sparwood’s Suzanne Hawley had a unique way of showing it.
As her daughter and her partner, both 23 years old, set off on their journey east to Thunder Bay, Hawley made sure to leave a trail of reminders to call home.
Countless phone calls later, the trail was set; businesses owners of all kinds left large signs by the highway saying, “Christy and Jeff, it’s time to call your mother!”
“When they were leaving I was just thinking, I needed to do something, I just didn’t know what it would be,” said Hawley.
“I’m not really sure where the idea came from, but I decided that I would start calling people and asking them if they would put signs out along the highway,”
Hawley said the first few phone calls were unsuccessful, but eventually nine businesses, mostly Visitors Centres, agreed to follow through and put a sign on the highway.
Christy and Jeff missed the first sign, but saw the second, a very large one. Hawley described their reaction as priceless.
“My daughter said, ‘oh my God’,” said Hawley.
“Her boyfriend said, ‘you’re really embarrassing us’. I said, uh oh, you’re going to be in trouble, because there’s a lot more signs.”