[78-L] A death in our record family...

[Mark Bardenwerper]

On 6/4/2012 7:23 AM, Michael Shoshani wrote:
> Just to add to all this, Andrea (or Pet, as she preferred to be called)
> and I became great pals through 78-L, eventually spreading to
> LiveJournal and Facebook as well. We would often text each other
> pictures of where we were and what we were doing if one of us felt like
> the other would be interested.
>
> Her preferred nickname, Pet, came from petquality which, with the
> occasional variant, was the name she used online. It's apparently a dog
> show term: a dog that is "pet quality" does not have the perceived value
> of one that is "show quality". This was, sadly, a reflection of her
> often negative self-image.
>
> Her life was, indeed, plagued with unhappiness. If I recall correctly
> both her parents were murdered when she was young. Those of us who knew
> her know of her divorce and the years that went before that. I talked
> her down from suicidal thoughts on several occasions, as I would suspect
> several of my fellow listers did.
>
> Her daughter was the light of her life and the focus of her existence.
> To have been cut down so suddenly, on the verge of making a new and
> possibly happier life for herself, as the sun appeared to finally be
> coming up on her horizon, is a horrible, bitter, dark and tragic irony.
> As is her last Facebook entry, from the wee hours of Saturday morning,
> which I quote here in its entirety:
>
> "I have to be up loading and driving in less than five hours but I just
> can't get my mind to shut down and sleep. Not even old XFM
> Gervais/Merchant/Pilkington podcasts on youtube, which usually help me
> sleep, are working. Please sleep Andrea. Sleep while you can."
>
> Bitterly poignant, in retrospect.
>
> Michael Shoshani
> Chicago
> Who did not sleep well last night and who is at work attempting to hold
> himself together.
>
>
This incident bespeaks the entire list experience. There is anonymity to 
the black letter on the white page that can hide the struggle of an 
everyday life. The joy of this hobby is the music and its palliative, 
healing properties. Piles of dusty dark plates render voices from the 
past to fill our rooms and our hearts, the strange new tune, the familiar.

Andrea reached for that.

God keep her child in His arms until they are reunited.

-- 
Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr.

Technology...thoughtfully, responsibly.

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