R.I.P. Pamela

Pamela has been on my mind all day.

Little things such as knowing I should drop her an email, then putting it off because I thought I was too busy.

Big things such as all the time we spent talking after John died. She held my hand. She'd recently gone through the same thing with a mentor of hers. She knew how I felt. She knew the heartache and sorrow. And we shared our stories with each other.

I remember one email she sent to me. She apologized for not writing sooner. She explained why she hadn't, then said she should have written anyway. I was stunned. She had so much on her plate at that time. Big things. Huge things. I told her to never, ever apologize for taking care of important things.

There are many words that could be used to describe Pamela. Nice is the easiest one to use. She was the nicest, kindest, gentlest person I've ever had the good fortune of knowing. But she was so much more.

When I was ready to strangle people, Pamela was always polite and kind. Which is why there were times she'd forward me an email with a one-liner from her attached to it that would cause me to spew whatever drink was in my mouth onto the monitor. Snark was my strong-suit. Nice was hers. When she used snark or more accurately sarcasm it was extremely funny.

To get an idea of who Pamela was, visit here. Plan to spend some time there. She put a lot of work into her web site. It's loaded with all kinds of information.

Rest in peace, dear friend. You touched so many lives. I wonder if you have any idea just how many are mourning our loss today. Knowing you, I'd say you didn't.