Big Desk Linda

I heard the story nearly a year ago from my maternal grandmother (or Granmma as I've called her from the time I was little and my father was convinced I would need to go to speech therapy), the story has been popping back into my head, as a side note, this is the stuff soap operas a made of--I can't make this drama up.

This was the story of Big Desk Linda and a large reason why Granmma always encouraged her children, almost to their own detriment, to be nice to everyone.

Linda and Granmma grew up in the same neighborhood in small-town Park City when the town was small and poor; the main source of income at the time was mining not ski resorts. The school was small and Linda was almost always in the same elementary class as my granmma. They were in the same neighborhood as well so between school and home Granmma saw a lot of Linda when they were little. Seeing a lot of Linda was hard on Granmma sometimes. To her credit there were times she was able to be nice, but there were other times when Granmma she pretend not to hear Linda calling her name on the way to school etc--stuff we've all either done or would probably do at one point or another in our lives.

Now Linda had some sort of thyroid issue and was quite a bit larger than the rest of her classmates. At school there was a big desk just for her. Every now and then when the classroom seating arrangements were switched around Granmma and her classmates would sit at different desks, however whenever Linda got moved the big desk moved with her; thus earning her the name "Big Desk Linda".

Linda's dad was out of the picture and her mother worked a lot and like to pal around with the local rif-raf (not Aladdin), leaving Linda home to tend to domestic stuff and raise her 8 siblings. Linda's responsibilities at home didn't really allow her much time for her studies or a social or even herself; as a result it seemed she was always behind in school and sadly, a socially awkward person.

As the years went on Granmma saw less and less of Linda, she knew Linda had dropped out of school (a common thing during that time) to help support the family, it seemed had found work somewhere and was going with some guy from Heber--Ted or something. Granmma is cute and still refers to dating as "going with". At Granmma's high school graduation she ran into Linda who had come to support a friend. Linda was holding a baby and Granmma asked who the baby belonged to thinking it was a sibling or cousin; when Linda said the baby was hers Granmma instantly felt weird--an emotion I never imagined my Granmma would be familiar with.

The Drama of the Story:
Still more time passed by and Granmma is back in PC visiting Great-Granmma and runs into Linda who has since parted ways with her baby daddy Ted-something and has begun to date his older brother Rich meanwhile her mother either started dating Ted after she 'stole' Ted away (you saw that right, stole the father of her grandchild away from her daughter. Ew--never liked that woman).

Linda and Rich seemed to have a pretty happy life together from what Granmma saw--especially for having such dysfunctional family. The especially sad part was when Linda died in childbirth with her second (Rich's) baby.

The Moral of the Story:
As Granmma finished her story she kind of had some regret in her voice when she quietly and quickly mentioned how she wonders how things would have gone for Linda had Granmma been a bit more friendly to her, or offered to help her with some of the more difficult subjects for Linda. Granmma then mentioned how she didn't want her kids to live with a regret like that and why she always encouraged them to help out those around them as much as they can because she has seen the great influence a good friend can have. She then offered ice cream to me and my dear uncle. She loves to give ice cream to visitors, and I love Granmma.