Memories of Lisa Madigan
What a week!
There was good news and bad news on a professional front. Really excellent news for a dear friend that will go public soon.
And, we lost Lisa. *sigh*
I met Lisa exactly once. We were at ALA and I got a Mermaid's Mirror ARC and was terribly excited to read it, and we made plans to have dinner together. We were in a cab on the way to an after-hours shindig in Georgetown and Lisa said she thought she was too tired to have dinner with me. She apologized for being so "old" and I assured her it was no big deal, we'd run into each other at something else.
=( Well, now it makes perfect sense that she was too tired for dinner. She had cancer even if she didn't know it. I went on to a delightful dinner with some more of my favorite people, and Lisa emailed me after ALA to apologize again.
She was so sweet. During the Magic Under Glass cover issue she was one of a handful of people to email me directly to say:
"Jackie, obviously I've been totally wrapped up in my own stuff (!!!) the past few days, but I wanted to drop you a note just to say I hope you're hanging in there during this online tempest in a teapot."
She had JUST won the Morris award. But she still took time to drop me a note. Another time she sent me a little hanging mermaid which I put by my desk. She was sweet, but she also had teeth. Some of the subjects to emails she sent me are "Your fabulosity", "Hi cutie!", and "I might be a suspicious bitch, but..." She also wasn't above sending a message that said, "I might be overstepping my boundaries, but..." and then giving me some helpful advice. Real friends do overstep boundaries when they need to, once in awhile, don't they?
I talked about this on my Blogspot, but I don't think I said it here. Dade's mom died of pancreatic cancer. Right before I found out Lisa had pancreatic cancer too, I had a vivid dream where Dade's mom visited me and told me she was all right, full of joy and even humor, and looking out for us. I'd never had a dream like that before even though she died many years ago. It brought me a great sense of peace about Dade's mother's death, many many years later, that I had never really had before. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but now I can't help but wonder if she really was looking out for me, knowing I needed a glimpse behind the veil just then.
Lisa, I hope wherever you are, the mermaids are singing.
There was good news and bad news on a professional front. Really excellent news for a dear friend that will go public soon.
And, we lost Lisa. *sigh*
I met Lisa exactly once. We were at ALA and I got a Mermaid's Mirror ARC and was terribly excited to read it, and we made plans to have dinner together. We were in a cab on the way to an after-hours shindig in Georgetown and Lisa said she thought she was too tired to have dinner with me. She apologized for being so "old" and I assured her it was no big deal, we'd run into each other at something else.
=( Well, now it makes perfect sense that she was too tired for dinner. She had cancer even if she didn't know it. I went on to a delightful dinner with some more of my favorite people, and Lisa emailed me after ALA to apologize again.
She was so sweet. During the Magic Under Glass cover issue she was one of a handful of people to email me directly to say:
"Jackie, obviously I've been totally wrapped up in my own stuff (!!!) the past few days, but I wanted to drop you a note just to say I hope you're hanging in there during this online tempest in a teapot."
She had JUST won the Morris award. But she still took time to drop me a note. Another time she sent me a little hanging mermaid which I put by my desk. She was sweet, but she also had teeth. Some of the subjects to emails she sent me are "Your fabulosity", "Hi cutie!", and "I might be a suspicious bitch, but..." She also wasn't above sending a message that said, "I might be overstepping my boundaries, but..." and then giving me some helpful advice. Real friends do overstep boundaries when they need to, once in awhile, don't they?
I talked about this on my Blogspot, but I don't think I said it here. Dade's mom died of pancreatic cancer. Right before I found out Lisa had pancreatic cancer too, I had a vivid dream where Dade's mom visited me and told me she was all right, full of joy and even humor, and looking out for us. I'd never had a dream like that before even though she died many years ago. It brought me a great sense of peace about Dade's mother's death, many many years later, that I had never really had before. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but now I can't help but wonder if she really was looking out for me, knowing I needed a glimpse behind the veil just then.
Lisa, I hope wherever you are, the mermaids are singing.