Many people have asked how Arthur and I came up with Wynterlyn’s name. It’s a known fact that we love to snowboard, we got together/married in the winter season,la di da di da. So…We thought Wynter would make a great name. As unique as her name is, the lyn part is the most special. Carolyn, best known as Lyn or Lyn Lyn was my cousin who passed away on June 21,2004. Her 30th birthday was just this past June 7th and her death anniversary is today. I’ve been thinking a lot about her. Actually, anytime the cousins meet up I think of her. I miss her so much. Lyn enjoyed life. A die hard A’s fan, she is the reason I love the Oakland A’s. Eric Chavez was her favorite player. Although he’s a Yankee now, she still would probably love him. She loved to cook/BBQ and she would invite folks over for some awesome grubbing.
She loved No Doubt. She had posters of the band on her bedroom wall, and had all their albums. They had a concert in Marysville the day after I graduated from UC Davis. So of course, we got tickets and Lyn stayed the night of my graduation and the next day, Jendel, Arthur, and I headed to Sleeptrain Pavilion. We walked in, got our souvenir T-shirts, grabbed our beers, and settled in our seats ready to enjoy the concert. No Doubt came on stage and fans were cheering, the place was just electric. Hella Good was probably the 4th set and everyone was jumping in sync as they belted out the chorus. Lyn nudges me in the shoulder and asks, “Why aren’t you jumping?”. I had been just simply nodding my head to the beats. I laughed and said, “Ok, next time they sing the chorus.”
“You’ve got me feeling hella good
So let’s just keep on dancing
You hold me like you should
So I’m gonna keep on dancing keep on dancing”
We were all jumping up and down and singing along. Then as the chorus ended, I felt something and look over to my left and Lyn had passed out on the floor. A sudden fear had came over me. Jendel and I were calling her name, Arthur had run to get help, and a few people had seen what was happening and came over. I remember someone yelling CPR needed to be performed “right now!!”. Next thing you know some people came and they took her out on a stretcher to first aid. They wouldn’t let us in to first aid. I was praying for her to walk on out of there soon because she was missing her band. They told me she would need to be taken to the hospital and that I could ride with her in the ambulance. Then, they tell me I had to meet them at the hospital and I couldn’t ride in the ambulance and that’s when my heart sank and I panicked. This was really serious. We get to the hospital before the ambulance does and when they arrived, there was an EMT on top of Lyn performing chest compressions.
We were led into a room and the doctor comes in a little later and tells us Lyn did not make it. We were all crying in disbelief. A grief counselor was there but I just didn’t want to talk to her. How was I suppose to tell my family that Lyn just passed away? Jendel made the calls for me.
Later that night when we got to my Auntie’s house, I went into her arms and we both cried and I told her that Lyn was so happy to see her favorite band.
