ONE
Jadyne and I just returned from a trip to Colorado to see Jay’s brother and sister-in-law. We were passing time in Glenwood Springs at the Amtrak station while Greg was undergoing an eye exam. The Zephyr, Amtrak’s San Francisco-Chicago train, was due any minute, and we waited for its arrival. A man was waiting in a wheelchair by the tracks with a small dog on his lap, an oxygen bottle on his back, a caregiver by his side. I asked him where he was going, why he was there. He replied, “I live in Carbondale. I have family on the train, and I came down to see them.”
I moved away and waited for the train.
A Zephyr is a “light breeze.” Considering how late the California Zephyr often is, the breeze must have died down somewhere along the line.
As it rolled into Glenwood Springs the doors opened, passengers embarked, and fifteen members of my friend’s family jumped off, ran to his wheelchair, and hugged him. They handed a porter a phone for this.
Ten minutes later the whistle blew, the family climbed back on the train, and the man was left in his wheelchair, his caregiver by his side. his dog on his lap.
TWO
Earlier that day I was waiting for Jadyne at the Glenwood Springs Post Office. I walked over to pet Blanco, a Great Pyrenees dog, and began chatting with her owner. “Are you local?” he asked. “No, we’re visiting family here,” I replied. I paused, then said, “I’m sure you know them. Everybody does. They’re Greg and Sean Jeung.” He responded, “I worked with Teeny. I knew her so well. Such a loss.” At that moment his friend Teri walked up.” She bought Teeny’s house,” he said.
I sent her photos of the house from the early eighties. She texted, “ I LOVE MY HOUSE, and will show it off when it is further along. I had the floors leveled and had wide plank select grade walnut installed downstairs twenty years ago. I put a shower in the downstairs bathroom and tiled everything in white, with white bead board above tile wainscoting on the walls. That was all 20 years ago. It feels good to be working on it again.
It was nice to have met you both, and I look forward to seeing old pictures!!” She sent me the following text, adding that it was from one of Teeny’s friends, who wrote it two days after Teeny was killed.
The friend had photographed a poem that Teeny had on her refrigerator.
I sent her the photos. She emailed. Thank you so much for the pictures. Seeing them has helped me understand why her personality has always outshined her death. What a beautiful lady! I feel she lives on in this house, and I will certainly continue to welcome her here as I always have. We would have been great friends! Thank you again! I am ever indebted. What an unusual chance encounter!!