Waltz of Her Life

As they both stood there, holding each other, she thought she could hear Lauren speak: "You're doing such a great thing. Keep it up!"

Through her years as a nurse at Jewish Hospital, Linda became known as the "Nature" lady. Family members would clamor for the doctors and nurses to step in, heroically.

They spoke of "fighting this animal" called cancer, as if it was a dragon or an invading army that could be vanquished. Many times Linda would tell the sons and daughters of patients that "We really don't know why the body grows destructive cells. Sometimes it's nature. Sometimes we ask the patient why they want the cancer."

Words such as those had shocked more than a few wives, husbands, mothers or fathers, sons and daughters. "Why in the world would anybody want cancer?" they would say. Linda saw the disease not as an army to be conquered or an animal to be killed but as a learning experience for the patient. In her years she heard many patients say "I've learned more about life and love through this than anything else in my life."

The Thursday morning late in August finally arrived. Linda had packed all of her bags and thought about how nice it would be to wear normal, regular clothes for the next five days in a row. She put on her pale yellow and floral sundress to begin her weekend adventure with Stephen. Still early that morning, with the humidity rising from the river like a warm fog, Stephen arrived in his boxy, sensible Chevy. "I'll never buy one of those rice runners," he would say. "Jobs for people in this country just like me depend on me driving a homegrown set of wheels."

Linda and Stephen had spent entire weekends together before, checking out the antique shops in Warren County, or watching endless parades of videos together in between shopping trips and restaurant dinners. Going away for the weekend, to a distant, exciting place like New York City seemed like they were taking it to the next level, however. The clouds parted and they enjoyed clear skies and a smooth ride all the way there, on the plane.

When the captain came on the crackly intercom and said "Flight crew prepare for landing," Linda held Stephen's hand. The jet cruised over the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Linda looked out the window and shook her head, thinking that the buildings of downtown Cincinnati could fit into a little sliver of that island amid all the glass and concrete behemoths. The plane dipped lower, and the next thing Linda saw when she looked out was a giant metal globe in the middle of a park. Stephen saw her looking at it. He said "That's where they had the World's Fair. We went there when I was a little kid. It was the last time I went to New York."