July 19, 1975 - May 9, 2023
I watched the video of Heather Armstrong's memorial today. Not all 3 hours but much of it.
When I started this blog in 2007 it was because people like her existed. She was blazing a trail that we had not quite seen before, she turned her blogging into a social media business. She created her own celebrity. I have followed her over the years with interest and despair at times. I have watched others swoon over her as they try to make their own way as social media mavens. Even as I saw her succeed I wondered about the impact of the activity on her. She had grown thin, visibly drawn. I read the comments on her instagram, they were brutal. Really for no reason, but that friction seems to compel many things. Interestingly in the final montage of photos of her from the past 5 yrs or so she is never without her phone. In the end her partner Pete Ashdown confirmed that it took a terrible toll on her.
When I heard she had died of suicide I felt shocked but maybe not surprised. I wanted to acknowledge her here with a drawing and a tip of the cap to her. She lived well, worked hard, was unapologetic and was the absolute queen of the selfie. She struggled and suffered with depression, mental illness and the big one, alcoholism. I looked at a few of her last posts, she had been sharing her drawings, feeling good about sobriety. It's all laid out there.
We became sober about the same time it turns out. In October of this year it will be 3 years for me. I make no predictions or conclusions. Goodbye Dooce.
