Originally Posted by Chula Vista

I first started dating Linda at 19. Her older, and extremly beautiful sister was 22 and already had a 6 year old daughter out of wedlock. I became kind of a surrogate dad to her right off the bat and got extremely close to Lin's sister as a result. To say that the sisters were tight would be the understatement of the century. Lin's dad died in a plane accident when she was 16 and her mom, who re-married and had her second husband drop dead of a heart attack when Lin was 19, became a basket case as a result. So ya, they were really close.

A few years later the cancer stick came knocking. Double mastectomy and a long recovery. Then it came back. Another long battle. Then it came back and she was told that this was it - she didn't have long to live.

She spent 6 of her last 8 weeks living with us under hospice care. Full on hospital bed, oxygen, and twice a day nurse visits. By this point she was in the 5th stage of terminal death - acceptance.

Linda was beyond devastated and was not able to talk with her about it, so I'd spend hours with her, mostly at night while she expressed her feelings about dying and leaving behind her teenage daughter, who I swore I'd take care of forever.

Watching that beautiful woman slowly shrinking away, in an up close and personal way, was the hardest thing I've ever endured.

Finally she ended up in the hospital and Linda stayed with her pretty much 24/7 till the end. She held on longer than the doctors expected. One afternoon Linda came home to take a shower and get some fresh clothes. When she got back to the hospital the nurse told her that Robin had passed shortly after Linda had left.

I was surprised to see her come back home home so soon and went out to see why. She barely made it out of the car before completely losing it in my arms, trembling and balling like a baby for what seemed like forever.

To say the next few days were hard doesn't really cut it. There's still a huge hole over 20 years later that will never be filled.

When Linda's step-sister was in town last week we spent hours sharing old stories about Robin. Lots of laughter but still a ton of sadness.