We’d been back from America for 2 weeks when cousin Ron from Tennessee phoned to tell us the sad news that Linda had passed away.  Everyone was shocked.  Linda had clearly been unwell but she’d been upbeat and determined to recover, and the week we visited, she was hiring the kitchen and function room for the family’s big Christmas Eve celebrations.

Linda’s son Mike told us that she’d suffered a heart attack and her body had been simply too frail to withstand the trauma.  Mike and his brothers had lost their mother and father on the very same day, 18 years apart.

We are both grateful to have had the opportunity to meet Linda,  but at the same time it’s very sad that Linda and Stephanie didn’t have the time to get to know each other better.

We will always remember the excitement of that first meeting. Linda’s cheerfulness and determination and how on the ball she was despite her illness. As she said to Chris as he was trying to pull the wool “Mothers know everything”.  We were also moved by the way her family pulled together to look after her, and her obvious pride as she spoke about each and every one of them.

Rest in peace Linda.

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And now for the continuation of the story of Linda and what happened when she ran out of oxygen.

We gave Linda a call on the Friday afternoon whilst at the Garden of the Gods to suggest we called by to say goodbye in person before heading back off to Denver. She said she’d be delighted to see us.

Well, once we got there, we heard the full story of what happened after Mike and Lynda spirited her away from the restaurant on Thursday evening.

As her oxygen cylinder was pretty much out, Mike and Lynda took her to the nearest fire station. Apparently the firefighters were about to set off to put out a trash fire but they decided her problem was more interesting and that another unit could deal with the call out!

As she can’t walk too far and didn’t have her mobility scooter with her, the firemen dragged out a wheeled office chair, sat her on that and then pushed her into the station. They gave her some oxygen while Mike took the car and dashed back to her apartment to collect a spare canister. It sounded like she quite enjoyed her visit with the firefighters – we teased her that it was a deliberate ploy just to be fussed over by a bunch of young men in uniform.

While we were there, we had a brief chat about our mutual parent and I learned something new. According to Linda, Cliff had had a girlfriend he never married, and that there was a son from that union. This means that I have (or had) a half brother somewhere! It seems that there is no way of tracking him down but it’s just another interesting little facet of the whole story.

We didn’t stay for long as she was still a little shaky from the events of the previous day. It just gave me a chance to say goodbye face to face.

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Thursday night was our last night in Colorado Springs.

We had arranged to go out to dinner with Linda – we were to pick her up and she would guide us to the Mason Jar. Linda suggested the meet time of 16:45 which was a little earlier than we would eat normally (more late lunch really) but as my body clock is still a bit confused, we thought that would be just fine.

With Susie not feeling too grand, we decided I would go on my own. As I had not yet driven over here, this was a scary prospect! I had a practice drive to the Urgent Care Center (see previous post). I have only ever driven an automatic once before and that was at least 25 years ago and I have never driven a left hand drive car before.  Once I had stopped trying to put the clutch in and could keep my left hand on the steering wheel, it wasn’t too bad.  I concentrated really well on keeping in the middle of the lane otherwise there was a tendency to drive too close to the right hand lane edge.

I arrived at Linda’s 10 minutes early so decided to wait in the car.  I had managed to park in a prime spot just outside the front door so Linda wouldn’t have too far to walk.  A few minutes later I saw Chris arrive and he called over to say he was just going to help her downstairs.

Once Linda was installed in the car we set off with her providing the driving instructions. Luckily it was pretty straightforward.

On arrival at the Mason Jar, we were greeted by Linda’s eldest son, Mike, and his wife, Lynda and so we made a party of four.  We had a good time, with lots of chat flowing and I learned a lot about American menus!

Along with Mike and Linda I had the steak and a “fully loaded” baked potato and managed to eat most of it.  This was really my first proper meal since the preceding Friday so I didn’t want to push it too far.  Linda ate hardly anything in spite of Mike’s coaxing (she’s supposed to eat 2,000 calories a day to regain some weight) but decided to have the leftovers boxed up to take home.

We had just about finished eating when Linda suddenly announced that she was nearly out of oxygen!  Lynda fetched their car immediately and they took Linda off home to try and get there as soon as they could before she ran out.  We all said a hurried but heartfelt goodbye and then I was left to find my own way back to the hotel…

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After our trip out to see the mountains and the aspen fall colours, we were invited round to Linda’s apartment for coffee.

We made a side trip to our new favourite supermarket, King Sooper’s to see what they had in the line of cakes or buns to take with us.  Susie sought the opinion of a member of staff who recommended the cheesecake.  They did, indeed, look rather yummy.  The only downside was that they were all in the freezer cabinet and I didn’t think that we should pitch up with frozen cake!

They certainly seem to be big cinnamon fans here.  There were cinnamon buns of every description and I’ve noticed that there have been cinnamon bagels as part of the breakfast offering each day.  In the end we found a chiller cabinet containing portions of different cakes so we bought a selection of three (including some cheesecake!) to take with us.

We made our way to Linda’s and were warmly greeted by both her and Bugsy. Susie opted to try some iced tea for the first time and I chose my usual hot, black tea. While we were there, Linda received a text from one of her sons who was going to call by with some bread for her. She didn’t let him know we were there, saying that he’d have a surprise when he arrived.

And so this is how I got to meet one of my four American nephews. Chris seemed a little taken aback when he opened the door to find Susie and I there but he soon settled down and chatted with us. We then had a photo session as you can see.

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Before we left Denver, Stephanie was clearly very nervous about the meeting. But we talked about other things on the journey up there and by the time we arrived she had relaxed a bit.

Linda was delighted to see us.  She seemed very nice – although clearly very ill.  She said she’s lost more than 4 stone in the last year and it shows. She looks incredibly thin.  She’s wired into oxygen the whole time.  She explained that she wouldn’t need it if we weren’t so high up but the air at Colorado Springs altitude is very thin and lacking in oxygen.  She also has a little Maltese dog called Bugsy  who even I thought was quite sweet.

We chatted for a couple of hours and enjoyed a delicious chicken salad which Linda had made.

Although in one sense it’s a joyous occasion, it’s also still quite a stressful one.  After a couple of hours I felt Linda was, unsurprisingly, beginning to tire slightly,  so I suggested it was time for us to go and check into our hotel.

It won’t be the last time we see her though. We’ve traveled this far, and will be seeing her again…

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Okaay. We’re on the final countdown to the meet.

For some reason, I had it in mind that we’d potter on down to Colorado Springs today, book into the hotel and arrange a meet on Saturday. But no. As the body clocks aren’t reset yet, we were awake and chatting at 4:00 am this morning. Just as I was starting to settle back into a snooze, Susie decides to log on and check her email. And there was an email from Linda. Inviting us to lunch at her apartment tomorrow – which of course is today, Friday. OMG! That woke me up rather!

So we have emailed back to say, yes, we’d love to and now I’m chewing my fingernails (metaphorically at least).

I think that’s actually a really brave thing to do. To invite 2 strangers into your home when you’re on your own takes a bit of nerve. And I don’t know if I could do it myself.
I won’t pretend that I’m not just a bit nervous. Because I am. Not scared, not wishing I had never had the idea to come to visit, but there are definitely a few butterflies and I think they’ll be in full flight the nearer we get to 2 pm.

We’ll be checking out of the Holiday Inn very soon and hitting the highway. Colorado Springs is even higher in altitude than Denver and it’s another jolly warm day outside. So my next post will be after the meet. Wish us luck.

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