By Diana Henry
"I solve problems," says Zabawa of her daily duties as an attorney with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. in Madison.
As a healthcare lawyer, new healthcare reform laws are keeping her busy. But while Zabawa is able to find solutions for her clients; she didn't have the answers to what life threw at her in November 2004.
"That saying what doesn't kill you will make you stronger I really believe that to be the case," she says.
Life was moving along as planned. Zabawa and her husband were expecting twins after going through rounds of in vitro fertilization.
"As I was going through it, I kept telling myself this has got to be the hardest thing I will ever go through," said Zabawa. "I didn't realize at the time that it was a precursor to something even more difficult-which is when my husband of 10 years left when the kids were 3 weeks old."
Suddenly faced with life as a single mother of twins, Zabawa mustered all her strength and found hope in the smallest of blessings: her children.
"[They made] me feel relevant at a time when I felt so vulnerable and scared," she admits. "[They] forced me to get up every day and take care of them because I was the only one who could do it. It really pulled me through a very dark time."
Zabawa also turned to writing to help herself cope and move on. Then, what started as such a solitary activity became a way to reach out to a community of others struggling to overcome despair. The result has been a nonprofit called Lemon Spark, an online compilation of stories of heartache and, more importantly, perseverance.
"[LemonSpark's goal is to allow] people who are experiencing a similar loss: death, sickness, cancer [to] read about what other people did and how they made sense out of it," Zabawa says.
Around a dozen stories appear on the website right now, including bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard's tale of renewal after her husband's death and local chocolatier Gail Ambrosius' story of turning job loss into a new adventure. Zabawa is even currently helping one local woman tell her story of finding solace through playing piano after going through a divorce.
"It's one of those things that I would never have done if I hadn't gone through that very hard time," Zabawa says of creating Lemon Spark. "It gives me satisfaction to know that I am helping other people and that my loss is a gain."
Zabawa's children, Patrick and Vivian, are now 5. Zabawa, 39, is remarried and finds inspiration in telling other people's stories. She hopes people will share their "lemons," or dark moments, whether it's losing a job or battling disease, and how they transformed it into something meaningful-their "spark."
"If there's one person out there who feels encouraged from this, then it's worth it," says Zabawa. Find Lemon Spark online at lemonspark.net.
Diana Henry is news anchor with WKOW-27. Join her August 19, 2010 at 10 p.m. for "Someone You Should Know" featuring Zabawa.
WKOW's Someone You Should Know
