We are beyond saddened to share the news that a member of our community has passed away. Emilie was a fairly frequent commenter here. She is survived by her husband, Stephen, her son Daniel 2.5, and baby Ben, 9 months and countless friends. We know several of you were dear friends of hers and extend our sincerest condolences.

For those who aren’t familiar with her - here’s just the recent part of her story. Emilie found out she had cancer in the summer of 2007 when she was pregnant with her second child, Ben. She had a successful operation to remove the tumor while she was pregnant, but it came back soon after she gave birth to him.

I never met Emilie in person yet felt like I truly knew her. I know a lot of her blog readers felt that way. I had been a longtime lurker of her blog, Lemmondrops, after I followed a link from a comment she made here on Cribsheet. We had a few e-mail conversations, not about her cancer, but about being “older” mothers, just turning the big 4-0, our Ben’s, our kids similar age spreads, and other common ground. I was inspired by her wisdom, humor, grace and attitude. I learned so much from her and often visited her archived posts to find out more about this amazing person. She had a honest and witty writing style. I loved her meme’s and lists: a quick snapshot into who she was, although I’m sure they merely scratched the surface.

Last spring I wrote to her asking if she would share her story on Cribsheet. I later checked her blog and found out she was about to start chemotherapy and thought, “Oh, no I can’t ask her to do this now.” I went to my outbox and tried to retract my request. She had already opened it and wrote back that she’d be glad to - and promptly sent me this post: Questions No Mother Ever Expects to Face.

I checked in on Lemmondrops last Friday and read she was starting
home hospice. Ben came up to me and said “Mommy, why you crying?” I couldn’t explain it to him. I was crying over the news that someone I never met in person but befriended online was dying. The word hospice hit me hard, it truly was the end, as she said she was entering the last chapter of her life - right before Christmas. Ben touched my arm and pointed at the screen. “That lady on the ‘puter is pretty.” he was pointing at the ethereal photo of Emilie glancing down. I said “She sure is - she is a beautiful person.”

I thought about her while I was in Illinois for Christmas hoping she was able to enjoy every minute with her family. It tore me apart to think about her knowing these Christmas moments were her last. I told my mother all about Emilie while we were doing dishes after dinner on Christmas Eve. It was impossible to talk about her without getting choked up.

When I returned from our trip and started the computer, the first thing I did was log in and check in on her blog. I found words I didn’t want to read. She passed away December 23rd.

To reiterate the quote she wanted her husband Stephen to share with her blog readers.

“And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?

— Raymond Carver

If this were one of her goals on her lists - may I be so bold as to write… (done!)

If you haven’t read Lemmondrops I highly encourage you to learn more about Emilie and her life - go here.

Molly Millet of the Pioneer Press wrote a lovely piece about Emilie in the Daily Juggle as well as an article in this Sunday’s Pioneer Press.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.