Mi Amiga, Eunice

When I lived in Mazatlån, January 2nd was the best day of the year. We called it, “Saskatoon Day.” It was the day our best friends, Eunice and Gordon Laidlaw, arrived from Canada, to spend the next three months with us. They were our first long-term guests and they came back every year from 2006 – 2010. Every day we spent with them was a joy.

In 2006, I was volunteering in the local English-language library when a man came in the library to ask if I knew of any available rooms for rent. Ernesto and I had talked, just that morning, about renting rooms in our house to make some extra money. Ernesto and his crew had finished all the repairs and every room was freshly painted and decorated.

“Well, yes,” I told Gordon Blair. “My house is just around the corner. I have three rooms to rent. You can see them this afternoon, if you’d like.”

“Sounds good. Can I meet you here when your shift is over and we will walk to your house together?”

On the way to my house, Gordon Blair explained that he and his wife, Verna, had just driven from Canada to Mexico with their good friends, the Laidlaws.

“Our place is ok, “ said Godon Blair, “but our friend’s place is dirty and too far away. This is our first visit to Mexico. I hope we haven’t made a mistake.”

“I think you will like it here,” I assured him. 

The door to my home was old and deceiving. It didn’t look promising. But as soon as we opened the door, Gordon’s face lit up. The fountain was bubbling water. The courtyard, with three huge mango trees, was spotless. I showed him all three bedrooms, with cheerful bedding and private bathrooms. The community kitchen was huge. 

“I’m sure our friends will love being here,” Gordon told me. Eunice and Gordon Laidlaw moved in that same night. 

I learned that Gordon Blair had been a funeral director and drove a big, comfortable, black SUV. Gordon Laidlaw used to manage a bank. Eunice and Gordon had been sweethearts since eighth grade.

Verna Blair and and Eunice Laidlaw were homemakers and best friends. They quickly became my best friends, too. 

Verna and Eunice loved to cook and sew. They had children and grandchildren they adored. They went shopping almost every day. Occasionally  the two couples would take side trips in the big black SUV to small villages outside the city. Once in a while I would ride along.

Every day while the ladies were shopping, Gordon sat in the courtyard with Neto, drinking endless cups of coffee and smoking cigarettes.  Gordon loved to listen to Neto’s stories and teased him relentlessly.

“Neto, you and I both act like we’re retired. The difference is, you’ve never worked.”

That winter was sublime. The weather was perfect. Soon our home filled with other guests, who were easy and charming Every day was filled with music and laughter. Eunice fell completely in love in Mexico and Gordon was willing to do anything to make her happy.

The following year tragedy struck Verna Blair, however, when she suffered a severe stroke, from which she never fully recovered. Although the Blairs were not able to return to Mexico, nothing was going to stop Eunice. She promised that she and Gordon would fly back next year, on January 2nd.

Eunice was Mazatlan’s greatest champion. She made friends throughout the city. She especially loved the children she saw on the street and the sunsets she watched every night from the beach near our home.

In 2008, my mother-in-law died and I needed to come back to Colorado, so I put Eunice in charge. She was more strict with Neto than I ever was. She wouldn’t let him have a third cup of coffee until he swept the entire courtyard. She scolded my guests if they didn’t leave the kitchen clean. I came back to a home that was spotless and tidy, but with a diagnosis of breast cancer that was going to require surgery.

The following year was my last year in Mazatlán. I was weak from an undiagnosed staph infection following surgery. Eunice and Gordon, along with Neto, helped me keep my house in order as I gradually became strong enough to climb to the top of the lighthouse again.

I sold my home in 2010 and returned to Colorado. Eunice and Gordon found other accommodations and continued to come to Mazatlan every year. Ernesto and I visited other cities during the winter ~ Los Cabos, Bucerias, Puerto Vallarta, and Curnevaca ~ but I could never convince Eunice to leave her beloved Mazatlan. We stayed connected by lengthy emails and occasional phone calls.

In 2012, I had a sobering message. Eunice was diagnosed with stomach cancer but she  was determine to “kick Cancer’s butt!” and come back to Mazatlan again. Cancer was tough, but Eunice was tougher. She fought like a tiger until her stomach cancer was gone in time for another winter away from Saskatoon. When she returned to Canada the following spring, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Again, she went through months of cancer treatment, with the goal always to return to Mexico on January 2nd. Bladder cancer was gone, only to be replaced with breast cancer. And then cancer of her spine. Every year she convinced her doctors she was strong enough to return to Mexico.

I met up with Eunice again, in 2020, right before the pandemic. I decided to come back to Mazatlan, mainly to see my dear friend. She looked good. She was as upbeat and entertaining as ever. 

Neither of us traveled in 2021 ~ due to the pandemic. This year, 2022, Eunice and Gordon were back in Mazatlan, with her cancer once again in remission. They rented an apartment on the beach, so they could watch sunset every night from their balcony. Her doctor, however, felt that her immune system was so compromised by cancer treatment, he recommended that they return to Canada by mid-February. Eunice wrote that she was tired and ready to go home. She wore a mask wherever she went and went outside only to buy groceries. Gordon was always right next to her.

Two weeks ago, I received a very sad message. Eunice wrote to say that cancer had invaded her entire body and she was now “out of options.” She was going into hospice care to die. 

My sweet, funny, dear friend, Eunice Laidlaw died last Friday with Gordon and her children by her side. 

Adios, mi amiga. You will live in my heart forever. Vaya con Dios! Go with God.