First thing is first. As some of you know I was out most of last week with some piddly upper respiratory infection. A shot, 24 hours bed rest and seven days on antibiotics later I am fine.
This morning as I was checking my work email and my personal emails something told me to check two of my favorite sites, monkey0 and my darling acorn, anne. I pulled them both up and while waiting for them to load I deleted some spam and checked my voicemail. When I returned to my browser I found a stunning picture of a turbulent grey sky hovering over the ocean, both sky and ocean as seen through the gauzy fabric of curtains, above the picture were these words, Jenn See died. She was 26.
Jenn See was not fine.
I did not know whether to just close down the browser so the information would go away and not be true or to try and find out more about this beautiful woman that I barely knew but respected immensely.
I looked at annes site and her words were so powerful, Jenn showed me that writing could be a thing of joy, even in sadness . [E]verytime I snap a picture of anything, everything, I think of her. Jenn showed me that photography was retaining a little of your childhood spirit, and letting it loose in the world.
Still there was no way that it could be true.
Jenn was so young, so expressive, a poet and a gorgeous person. She challenged people to see a picture, really see it and then she would or even sometimes ask you (dear reader) to give it a history, a plot, some emotion.
I finally took a deep breath and pointed my browser to Jenns site. It is true. She is gone and she will be missed.
The sweet comments, emails and her voice and vision have vanished forever.
You are missed Jenn See, missed and cherished. Loved and cursed for leaving too soon.