About why i left town so suddenly...
I wanted to tell you all why I had to leave so suddenly on Thursday.
I just had to go and pay my respects to someone.
When I was only 15 years old I met a neat family. The Orrs' from Odessa. They lived right down the street from me and my dad and sister. My parents had just divorced and my sister and I were living with our father in a new town.
I met the Orr family because they lived right near the baseball park and very near our home.
The Orrs had 2 boys and 1 girl who were the ages of me, my brother and sister.
We became fast friends. I dated their oldest son all throughout highschool and we were married and had a beautiful daughter.
I adored my mother-in-law and father-in-law. They were very kind and fun and good to me and my family.
Unfortunately our marriage didnt last, (We were too young and we divorced at 21). Even though our marriage only lasted 3 years, my relationship with his parents has lasted 29 years!
I've always valued my relationship with the family. The mother Linda was like a mother to me, and I always kept in touch with her throughout the years. She and her husband were even in attendence when Bruce and I were married 15 years ago! (now thats unusual.)
Sadly, recently Linda was diagonsed with Parkinsons and Ive watched helplessly the past couple of years while the disease progressed and began to take the woman I knew away.
I have great compassion for people with Parkinsons now and have seen first hand the devastation this disease brings. As if things werent bad enough, very recently Linda was diagonosed with Lung Cancer. According to the Doctors, she only has about 2-6 months to live.
Her husband called me himself and told me the news. I had to rush there, as they placed her into Hospice. The long six hour drive by myself was so lonely.
Even though my mother is living and I love her very much, this woman was very much like a mother to me and I always turned to her for advice over the years.
I have a fantastic mother-in-law now, but I will always treasure my relationship with Linda Orr.
It was her who let me borrow her car the day I took my driving test and got my drivers license.
It was Linda and her husband who threw me a graduation party the night of my high school graduation. It was Linda who drove me my Lamaze Childbirth classes when my first husband had to work. It was her who helped raise my daughter while I worked 2 jobs and put myself through collge.
She had her faults and I admit that we didnt always see eye to eye. But she always treated me with respect and kindness. I only remember one arguement we ever had in the 28 years that I've known her.
She is lying in a comfortable bed in the Hospice House in Odessa right now. With her kind and ever-loving husband of 46 years next to her. She smiled at me and kissed me and grabbed a hold of my hand and squeezed it. She was funny, even with the medication and everything. She ate a big lunch and chatted a little bit, then she got hooked up to her oxygen and and then settled in for a nap.
There is not 2 finer people in this world. She's too young for this to be happening to her, she is only 68.
I cant help but feel as if a part of me will die when she passes away. I know that someday I will see her again.
Sleep well tonight Linda, I love you.
