macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis About Linda, About Linda & Sue – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

About Linda, About Linda & Sue

Hi, my name is Linda (Sue & other family/close friends call me Lin).  Sue has asked me to edit her writings and to set up this website for her.  It’s my honor to do these things.

I met Sue in the Fall of 1976 when at the ripe old age of 22 I enrolled in my first undergraduate semester at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP).  Sue and several girls my age were graduate students who lived in the off-campus dorm that I moved into.  Sue was the first to introduce herself which was the beginning of an over 40-year friendship.

Prior to starting college, I’d led a very sheltered life.  Sue was the person to take me on several firsts: first view of the ocean on a trip to ‘the shore’, first trip to New York City, first frat party, first [and last] attempt at skiing.

I graduated with a BA in Psychology with a minor in Computer Science in 1980 (later, I got an MA in Cognitive Psychology from IUP ) .  Soon after, we took a vacation to Los Angeles which was not only my first trip there but was my first trip by plane.

Through the years we’ve been separated by miles but never by heart.  What started as regular letter writing became regular emails.  We’ve been through a lot together–we’ve laughed and we’ve cried together.  And now as Sue faces the toughest challenge of her life, I’m here to do what I can from 700 miles away.

You will probably never meet someone like Sue.  She’s extremely bright, caring, and funny.  What makes her extraordinary is her ability to face this challenge head on.  It was one thing to get a diagnosis of AMD years ago, quite another thing to find that her vision had deteriorated as if overnight.   She had not been without anxiety in the beginning, but she always knew what she had to do to ensure that her life looking forward was as rich as it was looking back.

“We’ll be friends forever, won’t we Pooh?” asked Piglet. “Even longer” Pooh answered.


Here’s a little more about me for those who have asked.

After I got my BA, I got ‘distracted’ from my plans of higher education when a teacher friend of mine asked me to take over a class in Introduction to Computers for adults. After the first day, I was hooked. From that point on, I became an instructor specializing in teaching adults how to use a computer.  In the mid-1980s, I became director of a computer training school for adults who were unemployed (after they were trained, we placed them in jobs). In 1989, my husband and I moved to Georgia where I started a computer training business with a partner.

Sometime in my 30s (early 1980s), I began to have health issues. I struggled to keep working until I couldn’t. I started my ‘early retirement because of health issues’ in 1999. Since then, I’ve had my ups and downs but I’ve kept moving forward even though sometimes I’ve taken a step or two backward. Even though my husband and I have no children, we’re raised quite a few furry kids in our 30+ years together. I love gardening, birding (especially Eastern Bluebirds), and staying in touch with my friends all over the world.

For a year starting in February 2019, I wrote articles for the site maculardegeneration.net. You can still find my articles at the end of my biography.

HoMe