Older Americans Month Spotlight: Mo & Lin Have Fun with a ‘K’
Below is an excerpt of Maureen “Mo” Longworth’s writing about her wife Lin Davis. Throughout Older Americans Month, SAGE has celebrated how LGBTQ+ elders are still having fun and defying the stereotypes that come along with aging.
Fun With A “K”
Last September, my wife and I explored Ireland for five weeks. We met up with my United Kingdom cousins (acquainted online by Ancestry.com). We piled into a rental van with their dog Holmes and visited our mutual great-great and great “Mossey” relatives’ homesteads and graveyards, Mossey Pub and Mossey Hill. We drummed in circles of sacred stones, gifted each other as we got to know what the other would like, and we took long wet walks in bogs with a slightly stinky Holmes.
Our last night together we celebrated Lin’s 82nd birthday at a traditional Sunday Irish dinner. Lin and I continued from Carrickmore to the Giants’ Causeway, Derry, Donegal, and Galway — never knowing Lin’s bone marrow was brewing a mutant. We were home in Alaska in December still recovering from travel like 82- and 74-year-old bodies do, but over time, Lin got sick. By February we learned it was cancer, and because acute leukemia can’t be treated in our small Alaska town, we are now in Seattle where she is receiving treatment.
Is cancer fun? NO! Is chemo fun? NO! Is it fun being away from home for a long time? Absolutely NOT! So, you might ask why I offered to tell a story on this topic. Answer: This is how I am making it fun.
In April, Lin had her second bone marrow biopsy. We learned just how much they hurt after her first one. During this second biopsy, the oncologist asked what music she wanted. She chose Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk.”
Whenever I think of the scene I still smile: Lin lying on her side, squeezing my hand. The draped and masked oncologist bouncing when she penetrated the bone. Me dancing up to the moment and after it was over. I will always have that memory. Another dance with my Lin. Modified but yes, it was fun! Fun with a k.
This is one way we try to make cancer fun. All the love of all the years guides us.
Mo is a writer, retired physician, former Irish dancer, and wife of Lin Davis for 35 years — but she has been funking with her for 38.
This piece has been edited for length and clarity.
