Linda Peterson

I know that my readers expect entertaining topics on my blog usually leaning to the humorous side. But it is with an extremely heavy heart that I make this posting. After four and a half years of courageously battling breast cancer, my good friend, Linda, lost to the disease and passed away Sunday afternoon. Linda was a beautiful person both inside and out. Her smile could light up a room, and as far as I am concerned, it always did. I first got to know Linda around the time that Nate and Michel got married. When you first meet Linda, her striking looks and warm personality make it impossible not to instantly take a liking to her. Linda and Michel (Nate's wife) were best friends in college. I stood up with Linda in Nate and Michel's wedding. ( I will have to bother Michel to get me copies of the pictures of her and I) Then a couple years ago, a group of us went down to Florida for Andy and Julie’s son’s baptism. Linda came along with her three sons. I won’t go into detail on what a piece of garbage the father of her children is. But while in Florida and I got the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Linda and her kids, Nathan (age 9), Kyle (age 7) and Jake (age 4), and enjoyed every minute of it.
In the four and half years since she was diagnosed with this disease, I always found it amazing how incredible Linda looked every time I saw her. She was always very positive and never looked sick. Despite all of the treatments she had to endure, the countless sessions of chemotherapy, you never heard her complain. And the last thing she wanted was for you to feel sorry for her. She went with me to Eric’s wedding this past April and when she walked through the door, she looked absolutely stunning. And she even surprised me with her moves on the dance floor.
Two weeks before she died, Nate, Tim and I went to her house to help her out with some painting in her house, fixing the kids swing set and staining the deck. She wasn’t home when we got there, she was at the hospital getting a spinal tap done. Towards the end of the day, after she got home, her and I were sitting in the kitchen, and asked her how she was doing. As always she downplayed her condition and said she was doing fine. I asked her about what she had done at the hospital. She went on to describe it as the worse pain she ever endured. 20 minutes of having a needle driven into her spine while she was screaming and writhing in pain on the table. She quickly changed the topic to ask how I was doing with my back. I know I didn’t offend her, but I still felt like such an ass. And there was no way I was going to complain about my health problems to a person who is dying. I felt guilty just saying that I was feeling good.
I went to visit Linda in the hospital only a couple days before she died. It was absolutely heart breaking to see her. The disease had drained all of the energy out of her. She was but a hollow shell of what she once was. The smile was gone, her eyes were barely open, and it seemed that she barely had the strength to feed herself. Not surprisingly there were a lot of people there to see her. But in the time I did get to be with her, the first thing out of her mouth, in a voice that was barely above a whisper “Thanks for your help. The deck looks beautiful.” In the following days her condition continued to decline, eventually getting to the point where her doctors flat out told her there is nothing more they could do, but make her as comfortable and pain free as possible. It was at that time she asked to be alone with her sons and she had to tell them that she was going to die. My God, how do you have that conversation with your children? It is hard to believe that she is gone. Linda was kind, thoughtful and caring. I am thankful that I got the opportunity in life to have known Linda. I will forever admire her courage and strength. Sadly the world is a worse place today without her in it. I grieve with her many friends and family today. She will be missed and forever loved by many.