I lost a dear friend suddenly yesterday.
I'd never had the opportunity to meet her face-to-face. I met her on the much derided Facebook through another friend. She lived on the other side of the world. A blythe spirit, a free spirit she danced lightly and brightly on the earth. A pagan and a mystic now obscured from us by the mists of her beloved Avalon. A kind and loving soul. Her passage through this life so different from the steady one foot in front of the other treading that I, a woman of the Midwestern prairies, have measured my journey.
Through the health problems she had experienced over the past few months, she exuded light and joy. The suddenness of her death has left her friends and family breathless and stunned. This beautiful woman now mingles her bright energy with the light of stars. May we learn from her journey.
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Lovely tribute 
Isn't it amazing that we don't even need to meet someone to have feelings for another? There are some that say you have to meet a person, know them, interact with them in person before we can "feel." I know there are people on DU for whom I have come to have feelings.
Your thread, even without knowing (in person) this woman, has made others recognize a loved one has been lost (moved on) and made others share in your loss. That is amazing too.
She brought light to your life and now you have shared it with us.
You do her great justice Skidmore. 
It sounds like the world is better off for the time she spent among us.
Julie
I rarely open these posts but I just happened to be thinking of my dear friend who suddenly and unexpectedly passed this spring, when I clicked on DU and saw your post.
Ours was also a long distance friendship, mostly conducted online, although we met initially through a travel tour in Europe where we were more or less thrown together, neither of us looking for or expecting a new close friendship that late in our lives. But The Lord works in mysterious ways, and my life was blessed and enriched with her spirit.
You have given your friend a beautiful tribute.
tribute to her was beautiful.
what loving words to remember her!
It's been a horrible month...where too many bright lights have been extinguished far too early. 
when I go, someone says something equally lovely about me.
Condolences to you.
I lost my sister one month after her cancer dx 3 yrs ago. I still can't get my head around it and feel that my spark inside me has been extinguished. I like the image of her mingling with the stars... 
