33, dead of cancer. Lale was such a spark of love. Sharp as a tack, funny and warm, she just walked into our lives one day as a colleague, walked a while as a friend, and walked out the next.
All day this has been haunting me. I worked until almost midnight at the office, throwing myself into a GoogleEarth map of Iranian targets that the BushHawks are probably considering for tactical nuclear strikes, and how many casualties that will mean (3 million, by the reckoning of the Physicians for Social Responsibility) and here was this single human death of someone I knew and loved and was inspired by, snuffed out. Hovering. Someplace in a corner of my mind where I couldn’t give it space, had to keep it at bay.
I managed to grab a moment in one of the quiet rooms in our open-plan office. Just a moment, long enough to let some emotion through but not enough to let the weight of it come down. I was at work.
I was looking out at the sky and there was a single small smudge of cloud against a blue sky. And I saw Lale. And a gull flew across my vision. And I saw Lale. And I said a small goodbye, and I saw her smile in my mind’s eye.
And I went back to work.
–b
Ach life is so damn cruel at times!
I heard about Lale yesterday and just couldn’t accept that she had to suffer as she did and die so young.
I mean, what the hell for?
I tried reading Peter’s blog yesterday. It’s such a loving tribute to Lale’s spirit, but it is also so difficult to read about her illness.
So instead I just remember her as she was. Smiling, enthusiastic, energetic and incredibly kind.
Somewhere indeed she is hovering,watching over the people she loves and who loved her.
Sleep gently, Lale .….