In the 20 years that I have been involved in the J-land community on AOL, later Facebook, more than 70 fellow bloggers have passed away. I keep a special blog (and associated Facebook page) in their memory. Without preference, I recall Donna Diggins, Linda Smith Shook, Marla Goodman, Sugar Lewis, Kath Motherhen... and so many others. Although I never met any of these good people, they became like friends. We shared our lives through blogs and comments, latterly through Facebook postings.
Some of the people I met in real life have also now gone; for example a lady named Sophia whom I met in North Uist 12 years ago. She passed away unexpectedly 7 years ago today. As she was an avid seaswimmer, Sophia was thought to have swam away in the night. Apart from bereaved friends, she also had to leave her wee cat behind.
Both my parents have now gone; my mother passed away in 2008; my father followed her 14 years later. I still miss them, although they live on in my (and others') memories. I can revisit the wee town where they lived in person, through my old photographs and courtesy of Google Streetview, which was updated last May.
When thinking of the departed, I see a window and a door. The door is closed for eternity, after those who went gone on ahead passed through it upon passing away. It is possible to go up to the window and see them as they were in life. The trick is not to spend all the time standing by the window. It is there if you need to look back. But it is more important to go forward, as they, who left you behind, would have wanted.
An afterthought on All Hallows.
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