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Remembering Donna By Craig Lowrie
Robbie and Craig
Robbie and Donna
I was so proud when my son Robbie was chosen to be the Braw Lad at the Galashiels Common Riding in 2019. But two weeks before it took place, our family was devastated when my sister Donna died in a car accident. I felt I needed to be the strong one for the family, as I was the dad, the husband, the son, the brother, the uncle, the brother-in-law. I thought if my family thought I was OK, it would help them. People would ask how I was feeling and I’d just smile and say I was good. Robbie went to all the common ridings around the Borders despite our loss, and following him kept our family busy and got us through the summer. Donna would’ve loved following him round the border towns as he represented his town. At that stage, I’d been running with the Galavanters for a while – the group’s great fun, with great people, it always gave me company and different sessions, and jog leader Arlene Botha was very encouraging. But after Donna died, I found I couldn’t go running on my own as I’d break down crying, and soon I stopped all together. Eventually, Raymond Hume from the Galavanters got in touch and asked me back along. I was a bit wary at first as I had lost the bug, and didn’t know if I’d break down at the session. But they got me running again. Even through lockdown Arlene would post weekly sessions on Facebook and most members would do them and post results. This motivated me to go out and do something. I did suffer from depression - and probably still do – but I now use running to clear my mind. I was always planning to do something in my sister’s memory, but I wasn’t sure what. continues over jogscotland magazine
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Winter 2020
