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Soon after Linda's death,
I was told to go out and take regular walks. I didn't want to take
walks-I didn't want to do very much of anything-I had a very tired,
worn-out feeling, a desperate sort of feeling of loss, and I really
didn't want to do anything very much. It was an effort to do anything.
I was having difficulty breathing because of a rapidly beating heart
that was bothering me and tying me down so that I couldn't seem
to get out and take the exercise that I needed. I found out that
I did need it because a heart specialist in Baltimore who examined
me said, "The thing for you to do is get out and take walks.
Take little trips, and take walks, and do some light exercise such
as swimming."
Well, the advice was excellent; however, I didn't follow it
right away, until one day I happened to be driving my mother downtown
and she happened to have a want ad section of the paper lying on
the front seat. When she got out for her errand, I picked it up
and started to look at it. As I looked at it, I saw, "Young
lady wanted to do some walking for photographer and to assist in
learning the business," and I thought, "How wonderful!
There is the advice Doctor King gave me. I think, perhaps, I will
go in and see this man."
It so happened that the place itself was just about four doors
away from where my car was parked. So when my mother came back,
I asked her if she would stay in the car a few minutes and I'd run
up to see about this photography job. All I had left of Linda to
look at was her pictures, and it meant so much to me that I thought
to myself, "It's probably the best way for me to help others."
After all, you never know what is going to happen, and those pictures
were more valuable to me than anything that existed in the world,
because there was Linda. I could look at her, and I could feel that
she was with me and, yet, of course, she wasn't.
Well, I went up to see this photographer, Mr. Lynch. He was
a short man, of very slight stature, and he impressed me as being
very assiduous on his job and that he would expect a great deal
from anyone who did work for him, and I thought, "This is one
way of getting out and getting some exercise. I don't know whether
it will be just what I had expected," because he told me that
the actual job was to get out and just walk, walk, walk, and get
these women with new babies to sign up for free pictures.
Of course, that appealed to me very much because I thought,
"After all, every mother with a new baby has begun to feel
the attachment and the desire to retain the memory of each day,
and the love and the care that we give to our beloved children,"
and I thought to give these free pictures to these new mothers was
a most wonderful thing, exactly what I wanted to do.
I said, "All right. I'll start out in the morning then."
He said, "You start out, and I'll find the section."
Then he turned to a map of Baltimore City, and, on that map, he
picked the place where Linda had gone to school.
I thought, "That's a funny coincidence, but I'm so glad
because I'll be walking in the same area where Linda and I used
to walk so much. I'll recall some more of the wonderful memories
I have of her."
We decided that I would start off in the morning; he gave me
the list of places and told me to go ahead and named the streets,
and so forth, where I was to start. It just so happened that it
was January 1951, but the weather had suddenly become April weather,
or May weather-it was "Springtime in January."
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