This morning I heard the news that I was and yet was not expecting to hear. Anita Rowland died yesterday afternoon. She was battling cancer and I knew things weren't going well, so I wasn't surprised to hear of her death. Yet, even when your facing the inevitable, there's always that part of you that assumes that today isn't the day.

Anita is like the godmother of Seattle blogging. I remember when I first discovered blogs and started poking on links and all that. This Anita Rowland person kept showing up on the local blog rolls. I started reading her blog, of course, and when I made my own venture into the blogosphere, her name was on my blogroll as well. (It was because I actually read her blog, not because I thought it was a requirement.) Many months later, when I ventured out to the Eastside Blogger's Meetup, I actually got to meet the lady herself. She was very kind, very friendly, very welcoming. A perfect hostess, really. As I attended more meetups, I saw more of those same qualities. It became very obvious why she was so popular.

Now she's gone, and as I read the comments on her husband Jack's blog--all the friends and acquaintances offering memories and condolences--I'm reminded that there are many areas of her life that I didn't know at all. And yet, that quality of kindness, of love, seems to be the constant in whatever activity she was involved in. Makes for a truly useful life, methinks. I wish I was doing half as good with mine. I suppose that's the challenge. When someone like Anita, who shares goodness and kindness with others, passes on, we who have been on the receiving end have to to try and carry on and keep up the good work. Anyway, keep Anita's family in your prayers, if you're so inclined.

Labels: currentevents, meetup, memorial, memories, sadness