It's been quite a summer...
8.24.2009
Chris' mom died July 28. Chris, Rachel and I were sitting in the living room watching our Netflixed News Radio episodes, when Chris' brother Ollie called.
Ollie and Carla (Linda's friend from Maine who had been staying with her for a couple months) were there when she died. It was unexpected, and then again it wasn't. We were planning a trip to N.M. at the end of the month ever since Linda told us in early July that she was stopping all cancer treatments.
She had reached the point where the treatments were no longer effective, and she had been turned down for a new treatment for her tumors in her liver because the tumors elsewhere were too large and numerous and most likely she wouldn't have made it through the surgery. I think too, that coming up on the two year anniversary of her husband George's death was harder than we all imagined. George had died August 2nd.
She wanted to see us all again, but just couldn't make it.
We left the next morning, driving out west, stopping in Missouri at Katie's for a quick pit stop (literally - we stopped and took a 4 hour nap...) and then headed straight to Albuquerque. We arrived late Thursday night.
Chris' sister Natalie (half-sister), and his Aunt Donna (George's sister) flew in. It was so strange not to have any parents there. Surreal actually, that we were all that was left. No George. No Linda.
The boys held up pretty well. The viewing was Friday - family only, since Linda had asked to be cremated. She wanted the tumors destroyed completely. Father Scott, Linda's priest, was there most of the week and was a great support to all of us. He and his wife Annette checked in on us, kept us company, and I'm really grateful they were there.
Tuesday was the Memorial Service and the reception at Linda's house. We had spent the weekend cleaning and getting the house ready to hold an anticipated 50 or 75 people. Quite a few of Linda's former students and fellow teachers from NMMI came to the Mass and the reception. A couple even got up and told stories about Linda - much appreciated, even if we did all end in tears. A former student's family catered - so we ate and drank and celebrated Linda's life.
That's when it got rough. We had known all along that we'd need to go through her things, donating what we could, packing away the rest, but it didn't make it any easier. It felt wrong, going through her things. And it was strange to think that almost a year ago exactly, Chris and I had spent the weekend helping his mom unpack the last 30 or so boxes from her move. I was packing up the same stemware that I had helped unpack a year before. Quite difficult.
We ended up putting things into storage in Albuquerque. We had been planning to move out there next spring or summer at the latest, but we've moved up our timeline quite a bit (for a number of reasons). We're putting our house on the market hopefully next month, and as soon as it sells, we're moving. Chris is looking into jobs out there, and I'm hoping by Christmas (fingers crossed) we'll be out in the great southwest. Or at least by the New Year. We'll see.
If you've been wanting to visit the East coast, now is the time! Rachel moves back into the dorms on Friday, and we'll have two guest rooms complete - plus one room with a futon, and of course the couch. We always love visitors, and if you know how to use a paintbrush...even better :).
Posted bySarah at 3:11 PM
