Monday, March 10, 2008

The Saddest Pictures I'll Take All Year

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This is what people look like when they're waiting their turn to bury some of the ashes of a dear friend at the foot of a tree in her yard. On Saturday, despite a storm that flooded every piece of low-lying ground for states around and knocked out power lines everywhere, a great many friends and relatives gathered at Janet Kagan's house to pay their last respects. During a break in the rain, we did our final small kindness for her.

How strange and familiar Janet's house looked! Every inch of it, every artwork, cat toy, and heap of books imprinted with her personality, and only she herself absent. Her husband Ricky cooked an enormous amount of food, and a lot of people whom I care a great deal about were present.

But, forgive me for stating the obvious, the event would have been a lot more fun if Janet were still around.

More photos of the memorial can be found here.

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2 comments:

Keith Ferrell said...

Thanks for the photos. Still so hard to believe. I curled up last weekend (during this part of Virginia's version of that same storm you mention) and shed some tears and, once they were dry -- or at least dry enough for my eyes to refocus -- re-read a bit of Mirabile -- and remembered a long conversation with Janet at WorldCon in Baltimore nearly a decade ago. What a fine conversation that was, I having the sense to let Janet do most of the talking. Thanks again for posting the photos.

Oz said...

I'm sorry for your loss. This post and your previous one told a great deal about how much she was liked and loved. The photos are evocative, especially the ones of Marianne.

Oz