I can't believe she's gone. I've been a member of Changes since 1996, since someone on the VPL pointed me that way.... Even though I'm a 24-year-old kid and a coward, she never knew me as anything less than the truth of myself, so much greater than that, and with support like that, I can BE greater. It is a real test, wondering how I will flourish without that help.

This is an excerpt of a poem she sent to me that I have read a hundred times and always treasured. She was never slow to share her appreciation for me. I hope I can propagate her memory... I miss her.

Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
It is not chaos or death....it is form
   and union and plan....it is eternal
   life....it is happiness.

The past and present wilt...I have
   filled them and emptied them,
   And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow
   from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under
   your bootsoles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you
   nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood,...
I stop some where waiting for you.

-- Walt Whitman (Song of Myself)