It’s only fitting to include several music videos in a post that finds me at a loss for the proper words. The proper words should have been those expressed to people who’ve meant an awful lot to me. After all, it is part of the dynamic between me and the Worldwide Web that I get to meet fascinating people, greathearted souls and sharp, multi-talented wits, people I almost certainly never would have known without modern technology.

But how do I explain the emotions I feel about those people when little more than emails and a couple of phone calls is the full interaction between us? Most online acquaintances are virtual and brief, but some seem like people I would trust to sleep with my ex-wife. Some - more seriously - I wish I lived next door to, because there’s a connection, a friendship, that’s proven surprisingly real.

Music, and the bassoon, were integral to this player. (Note: I’d mistakenly indicated that the flute was the instrument. My mental lapse.)

This once regular poster at American Street wanted to be an epidemiologist but became a professional musician, then eventually earned a Masters degree as a theologian. Twice, as a child, my blogging friend contracted flu - once with pneumonia - so when the global avian flu outbreak occurred, it drew an extraordinary amount of her attention.

I’m sure longtime readers know I’m speaking of the lovely gal, Melanie Mattson. For awhile, the theologian in her drove her to counter the proclaimed ownership of faith by the religious rightists. Then a new threat arose, causing her to ultimately co-found the FluWiki, which Wired covered two years ago. Last November she moved from her old blog ‘Just a Bump On The Beltway’, where she’d held sway since November 2003, to a new site she established for Disaster Preparedness of all kinds. She had a new business partner and was really excited with all the plans they were laying to provide an ongoing info source for people in need of help in emergency situations. She’d blogged briefly at Daily Kos before starting her own. She began blogging here in September of 2004.

And, as she was always eager to get away from the Beltway, I heard of her plans to move to Toronto. Then to Vancouver. I half expected she’d surprise me and show up here in Oregon, as I felt it would fit her like a glove.

Instead, she surprised me in a wholly different way. A couple of summers ago, in a devastating eight day period, two of my brothers died. I needed to go back East and was too broke to afford the airfare. I began the chore of fundraising when Melanie stepped forward and paid it, completely. The other funds raised permitted my youngest daughter to attend her uncles’ memorials, too. But it was Melanie who wouldn’t hear of me skipping what was obviously a necessity for me and for my family. A year later, she provided another sizable donation when that same daughter endured an inconceivable trauma. She wasn’t well off. She was just Melanie.

In that sense, though our phone conversations showed me she was also quick with the barbed wit, Melanie is a very real angel to me.
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That video might even make her gag.

With her new business partner and new site, I was happy she was building the designs she’d been planning for several years. And what do you know? She surprised me again.

I was told that Melanie died of a heart attack, though that’s not confirmed, as she had been suffering from a serious longterm illness. And had no healthcare coverage, which devastated her financially. She was 54, I believe. Way, WAY too young.
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I will miss that angel. And hope she’s gotten new wings that suit her. Big and bold.

What is it with all these nice folks departing? Aaron Hawkins. Steve Gilliard. Jim Capozzola. And now Mel. In the past five years, I’ve also lost all my aunts except one, two brothers and my father. It’s really kinda weird, this growing older stuff. One time my imagination likened it to being tied to a railroad track. And way, way off in the distance I hear a train whistle. Don’t know how far away it is. Don’t know where it’s headed or how many stops it has to make. I only know someday it’ll come this way. And there’s no way to slip the ropes when it does.

That’s how death comes along for everyone. It has its own schedule no matter what we want and no matter how much love we feel for its fresh passengers.

The best thing we can all do is to find the time to tell the folks we care about how much they mean to us, today and every day, before they head out on their new journeys. I’m sure I didn’t mention it enough to Melanie. It was utterly thoughtless of me.

So now, with this minor memorial post, I’ll tell you instead: Melanie sure was a wonderful person, dedicated to the protection of everyone, a great sense of humor, a published writer and poet and - if you read her site - also quite obviously an accomplished cook. Just the sort of multi-talented person I wish everyone could be.

I extend my warmest condolences to her family and friends.

Just a few examples of things she brought to our attention here:

The Real Face of War

Bad Bug (where her new crusade originated)

I Want a Boy, Just Like the Boy Who Married Dear Old Mom

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I invite commenters who knew her, online and off, to mention their good memories of her, too. There are other bloggers who’ll be adding their memories of Melanie today. I’ll post links