Those of you who are newer visitors may not remember Joycelyn Ward, a.k.a.
Maya's Granny, who used to comment here quite often. Joycelyn's blog was a welcome respite for me from the constant rage I've felt so often during the last four years that I've been blogging. Whether it was her own recollections of her
childhood and
her own children, collected for her granddaughter (the eponymous Maya) or
verbal snapshots of life in Alaska, visiting Maya's Granny was like a mini-vacation. And yes, there was even a smattering of
politics.
I knew she'd been ill for a while, but it nevertheless came as a shock to me to visit her blog today and find that she passed from this God-forsaken level of reality last Sunday.
We've heard so much lately about the use of the internet to spread scurillous lies and rumors about politicians. Yesterday we saw a pompous comment in a blog comment turn into a LOLCats-style snarky phenomenon. But at its best, what the internet does it allow us to make connections with people with whom we share common interests and who provide us with a perspective and a glimpse at their own interesting lives. I'm glad to have been able to make the connection with Maya's Granny, however fleeting. The blogosphere is poorer today for having lost her.
Those of you who are so inclined may wish to make a memorial donation to
Heifer International, her favorite charity.
She was so, so sick...and I hope that she is at peace. I'll miss her.
If there is a heaven, smack Timmeuh for me MG!(...tho, I have a suspicion that he might be in that other place...If there is a heaven, I dont know if they let in the criminally complicit.)