Remembering Linda

I often don’t know the reasons people come to the Laughter Club.  Sometimes I hear the stories, sometimes not.  So many people come and go.

Mostly I imagine people come just to lighten up, to bring more laughter into their lives, for all the reasons laughter is beneficial.  Sometimes it’s for a specific reason, sometimes for a major challenge.  Sometimes it’s even because someone is dying, or trying not to die.  This was the case with Linda.

The first time she attended, she told me she had just had brain surgery and was it okay to participate.  I told her I just didn’t know, please go slow and gauge for herself. 

Linda did participate for several months when she could and quickly became one of my favorite regulars.  She was such a great person – fun, interesting, engaging and all-around-special.  If she hadn’t told me her story, I never would have guessed.

And then I didn’t see her anymore.  But so many come and go, I can’t keep track.  Sometimes they’ll be gone for months or even years and then they pop up again.

But I have wondered about Linda for some time now and recently did a search on her name + obituary and sadly found her.  I stopped everything, cried for a piece of time and said goodbye.

But Linda will always be a part of our Laughter Club for she is immortalized in that great article and photo the Seattle P.I. did on us a few years ago. 


Photo:  Linda in the center with the kelley green top