Monday....January 31st...2011

Mary...Linda's dear friend Mary....so close and then were apart for so long and then back together....closer than ever...Linda marveled at this ..how it came apart and then so quickly back together...and Mary was Linda's brides maid when she married that neat husband to be of hers (yours truly)....


This is special friend number 3...from Mary.....

Part 1 - the early years

I'd like to share some thoughts about Linda's courage.
We were first friends in a very small town where everyone really did know your name. It was birthday parties, Saturday night dinner with friends and life around families - vacationing, camping - just fun.

We were such young mothers when Linda lost her husband Rich Emken, dad to their four children - Jim, Jeff, Janine, Jonathan. Rich was killed in a tragic plane crash, so suddenly gone from their lives.

We found ourselves single mothers at the same time. We grieved together, were a little lost together and found strength together. Linda showed me that courage meant resilience and being brave enough to move forward with our families. We started a little tradition of moms and kids weekends together every few months. We would pile our six kids into her home, cook and bake, play games and gradually found the simple joy of moving on with our lives and growing into strong women.

On one of those weekends, we tucked everyone in and left the kids with a very 'responsible' babysitter and went off to a late dinner and a little music....and there Linda met Dave Wood. She never looked back. She built a blended family and embraced two more children, Wendy and Julie. The rest of the history is the Dave and Linda story.

She had the courage to start a big, new life.

Part 2 - the last few years

Let's talk a bit more about courage. As you all are witness, Linda showed great courage to fight the cancer fight since 2007. Linda and Dave became blog demons both seeking strength and giving all of us strength. But she never stopped living life with joy, spirit and enthusiasm.
- a few more car races for fan appreciation work, and we met up at the Long Beach Grand Prix
- another cruise..or two or three
- off to Alaska
- more time at the beach and we met up at Mo's and the aquarium and the beach house for games of dominos
- back to Florida for more fun
- a train trip to Victoria
- another RV trip to Nebraska and then to Southern California where we met up in Ventura after a big Disney tour
- and, can you believe it, another house remodel!
These were just a few examples of Linda living her high energy life just as she always had before.

In her last days, she was ready to keep on fighting. "Just tell me the plan" she said. But then she held her family and friends close and said the words we needed to hear.
- about love
- about how she knew we would be all right
- about how we were to take care of one another

Jim, Jeff, Janine, Wendy, Jillian, Taigen, Dave - we know she gave you the gift of courage, we know you will make her proud and we will be here for you.

We five friends, we all thank Linda for being our long-time, deep-down-to-the-heart friend, for being our secret strength, for being our inspiration, for showing us the way to absolute courage.

We love you Linda!