Challenge Entry #11: Strength
Over the years, I have quite a few friends that I met over the internet. Some keep blogs, others don't. Many of them are my age. It's not really a big deal if someone dropped off the face of the virtual earth for a bit, because you know some mundane thing in the real world is keeping them busy. College, a new kid, or even just starting a new job. Usually if it's bad news, their absence means they've lost their job and cannot afford to keep their net connection. Such is life.
This weekend, Lauren lost her fight with cancer. She was 19. If you knew Lauren from LJ Cooking, you knew a girl who could laugh about trying to ice a cake with a saggy middle and go right back into the kitchen and try something else. She was pretty much your average college girl, grumbling about keeping up with Italian class after being sick, but enjoying hanging out with her suite-mates. When you heard her grumble about make up work in her college classes, she could have been any college kid who was out with the flu for a week, not someone trying to catch up with weeks worth of work.
Yesterday, I got around to checking my feeds. Her feed had an update, but Bloglines wouldn't show the actual entry, so I went over to her site. Her godmother posted the final entry, and it is strange to know that her blog has forever gone silent. She was always in such a good mood, even after her worst days, that it was impossible to imagine she wouldn't recover. She had just started the spring semester about 5... 6 weeks ago?
To be 19, and realize that you might not see 20, but continuing to enjoy life the best you can? That takes strength.
Tags: cancer
Challenges, friends and family | Caitlin, 2006, March 8 5:20 pm
Hope on 
Caitlin on 
Dora Thorn on
canyouswim
— 2006, March 9 @ 7:38 am
damn. can you post a link to her blog?
Caitlin
— 2006, March 10 @ 5:22 pm
In the Meadow We Can Build a Snowman is her blog. UVA is holding a relay for life on April 22-23. It’s something for survivors of cancer, and Lauren was originally scheduled to walk in it. If you want to donate, this is Lauren’s Relay for Life page.