Aussiegirl, a shooting star

[Paulette MacQuarrie, one of Helen's many Ukrainian friends on the internet, sent me this email, which with her permission I am posting.]

David, thank you for carrying on Helen's blog. It will be bittersweet to read posthumously what she had written while she was with us, but still, perhaps it will be healing. And I'm sure she would have approved.

If you get a chance to read it, I posted a tribute to Aussiegirl at my blog

Words are so inadequate to describe how special she was. But as one of the many bloggers whose lives she enriched and illuminated, I managed to come up with this, which I posted as a comment at cybercossack.com. If you would like to post it, feel free. Regardless if you do or not, I hope that it will comfort you at least a little bit.

Paulette

Every now and again a shooting star appears in the darkness of the night sky, and those who catch a glimpse of one consider themselves very privileged indeed.

I have never seen a shooting star. But to me, that is what Aussiegirl was in my life. I didn’t know her very long, in fact, had never even met her. Our friendship began, and grew, in the blogosphere. She helped me overcome my fears, gave me writing and technical tips, and encouraged her readers to visit my website and my blog.

How she found the time, while battling such a debilitating disease, to send encouraging and supportive emails and also share her thoughts and feelings, is a mystery to me. It just speaks to what a rare and precious gift she was.

I shall mourn this loss. But I will also be forever grateful for having had the great privilege to experience the beauty that Halya brought into the world, for a fleeting moment in time.

Vichnaya Pam’yat, Aussiegirl.