My friend Linda Chan (formerly Linda Lowe) passed on last night.  She has been fighting ovarian cancer. 

 

She's been one of my best friends since I was 12 years old.  She was always there to listen to me about my antics and when I broke up with my first girlfriend in highschool, she was there to listen and offer up good advice on moving on.  I was there to listen and offer up advice when she met Steve whom she eventually married.  I've always wondered if I broke her heart when we were 18 and discussed our relationship.  We wondered if it was possible for people of the opposite sex to have a close platonic relationship and we both decided that we would prove it was possible.  So we maintained our friendship at a close level throughout the decades.  Of course as we got older, married and had children, we sort of lost touch with each other, but we always regarded each other highly and found ways to just stay in contact.  It was a good thing Steve kept opening restaurants as it was a good way we could stay in touch. 

 

Linda was one of the few who regularly checked this site and commented. 

 

I will miss Linda sorely.  I feel a bit empty inside today.  But she is a believer in Jesus Christ and though her physical body is no longer, she is in a better place and we will see each other again someday. 

 

 

 

 

Not mine, but my parents.   It seems that in an age of 6 month marriages, the big numbers are harder and harder to come by.  I can only hope my own marriage makes it to 50 years.  But in the meantime, congratulations to mom and dad.

 

Through think and thin, lots of good times and lots of loud arguments and a few incidents that would make a soap opera script, my parents are still happily married.  I think a few years ago, they noticed they had diverging lifestyles.  Especially when dad had his heart attacks.  But they seem to have also learned that love goes beyond that.  They give each other room but at the same time, they've learned to love each other in a way only a husband and wife can.   As I approach my own 20th wedding anniversary, my wife and I are still learning new ways to love each other and will spend a lifetime doing it.