Just Jo

Those of you who know me know that I am a member of the MRBA (Marshall Ramsey Bloggerholics Anonymous) and have developed quite a few friends there. It's like a huge disfunctional family with some unique characters and personalities.

About a year and a half ago we had a lady join in the fray on pretty much a daily basis that went by the name of JustjoGA. I went back and looked at her comments and it looks like she had been lurking for a while before she started posting on our Free For All every day. She was drawn to Marshall because of his cartoons, then started following the blog.

It wasn't long before we determined that she was the oldest member of our growing group, but very computer savvy to be in her late 60s. A delightful lady, she would join in each day and usually give us an update on the weather in her part of the world. She would jump in on most any of the conversations and was witty and very good with words. She called herself a "wordsmith"

We all have avatars, mine being the smiley frog, and we tend to get used to seeing the same avatar all the time for someone and it'll throw us off when it's changed. Jo was different. She made it a habit to change her avatar periodically. It might be a painting she had done, or something else that struck her fancy. It became "normal" for her avatar to be different regularly, just as it is "normal" to see the same avatar over and over for someone else. That was just Jo. Her latest and last one was a beautiful scene of fall colors.

When we've got a member that needs prayers, we pray for them. When something great happens to someone, we cheer for them. If someone doesn't check in periodically, we worry about them. That was the case with Jo. Her health had been failing and we had not heard from her all day yesterday. Her last post was Saturday night. We discussed it on the blog and MrsH posted a note to her on her facebook page and one of Jo's friends in Georgia saw it and responded that she had passed away in the wee hours yesterday morning. Cornpop saw the response on fb and immediately called me. I posted a comment on the blog and all of a sudden posts were flying, calls were being made to those that don't have access to the blog in the evenings, each of us trying to make sure the rest knew what had happened. All the while I'm crying my eyes out over our loss. People that had not posted a comment in months appeared on the blog offering up their condolences. I think we broke a record for number of posts on a Sunday because of it. Jo would be proud.

She would tell us periodically how much she enjoyed being included in our little world. I don't know if she realized how attached we had all gotten to her and how much we enjoyed having her as a part of the group.

When I pulled up my blog to write this, I saw that smiling face, right there in my followers. No way am I going to remove it.

We are going to miss our dear friend, but we know she is no longer in pain and can breathe again.

I hope she is looking down at all her "kids" as she'd call us and know that we love her dearly.

Rest in peace my dear friend, Jo. Rest in peace.