Monday, February 17, 2014

Maggie Margaret McDonald




It's with a heavy, heavy heart that I dedicate today's post to Maggie McDonald, one of the brightest lights to shine in our community. Some of you might know Maggie from her mother Sally's wonderful blog titled Maggie World. That's where I came to know her, lighting on her shining face, reading of her raucous sense of humor and her dogged persistence to live life joyfully despite serious disability. I had the pleasure of meeting Maggie in person several years ago when I visited San Francisco, and I can still remember her riotous joke-telling -- Maggie couldn't talk, but she used an augmentive communication device and loved a good joke, told me several the afternoon we sat in her house. I texted Sally on Saturday morning, expecting to get together with them again. I had hoped Sally and Maggie would join us in Golden Gate Park on another beautiful day. I looked forward to hearing some more jokes and to laughing with Sally, too, whose dark sense of humor easily rivals my own. Sally called me, though, and told me that they had lost their girl the night before, unexpectedly. Unexpectedly because while those of us in this extreme parenting world might expect to live beyond our children, it's still shocking, still unexpected when they leave us. My heart goes out to Sally, her dear husband Steve and their beautiful sons, Tim and Eddie. I am blessed to have gotten to know Maggie through her mother's words and then my visit with her, but I'm going to miss her. We all will.

14 comments:

  1. Oh my...this is so sad. Thanks for alerting us. Blessings to them. Maggie was indeed wonderful...even from this side of the computer screen.

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  2. For the past two days, even as the waves in my life have risen and crashed, I have been thinking about Maggie, about your connection to her, about her mother and her family, about how we are all somehow connected. Mostly about how nothing in this world can begin to touch the deep sorrow of a child's death.
    I am so sorry. I am glad you got to know her in real life.

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  3. I am so sorry to hear of Maggie's passing. This news makes me very sad. I have been following her mom's blog for awhile now and Maggie seemed like a terrific young woman. Sweet Jo

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  4. I'm so sorry to hear this. Thank you for honoring her.

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  5. I am without sufficient words. Except to say that I am so sad for these parents and their deep loss and to say that I feel for you too, Elizabeth, that you have lost a friend and are surely reminded of your own precarious place in your world of extreme parenting.

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  6. Oh my god, I'm so sorry to hear this. Such a terrible, terrible loss.

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  7. Words seem so inadequate. I am sending my love to you and Maggie's family.

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  8. Lost my last comment. I'm so sorry to hear this, no words really, sending love to them all, and to you <3

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  9. i am so sorry, elizabeth. for maggie's parents and you and your family and all the parents and children in your circle that i am sure have become a treasured extended family over the years. may maggie rest in peace.

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  10. Liv's comment says it all for me. There are so many layers in this loss of Maggie. xo

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  11. I have no words, really. Just saying that I'm here, reading this, and reaching out. Maggie did have a shining face.

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  12. I am comforted by a belief that there are a few individuals on this planet who shine with an energy like the sun. It is an infinite energy, much like our universe with no beginning or end. And like the sun’s energy, their life force germinate seeds within us, a type of powerful love that will always be there to comfort us. Sending you and Maggie’s parents comfort and strength from afar.

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