Wednesday morning, doing my usual 'bunch of stuff about mostly nothing' on my computer, I saw a face I recognized on a news 'tile' - a blogger I've followed for years. I clicked and saw 'dead at 47' and froze. Gasped out loud. And immediately thought 'please let it be she was ill for some time or it was a tragic accident'. But no. She killed herself. Leaving behind two daughters 19 & 13 and her partner Pete who loved her fiercely.
Heather Armstrong is the reason I started blogging. I'd found her blog when she first started writing and followed along as she shared about motherhood, marriage, work challenges, etc. . Her writing is so much more intricate than mine - a masterful story teller, she could create post after post that was spellbinding. She shared her mental health issues honestly and frequently - something I always admired her for. Her issues were very severe - and she tried a lot of things to mitigate the crushing depression.
I even emailed her a few times and she always wrote back - which always surprised me as much as it thrilled me.
She earned a living via her blog. One of the first to monetize her blog. She created an entire career as a "Mommy Blog" influencer and was able to grow her business to include appearances at various blog forums around the world. She also wrote three books.
Heather's openly sharing her mental health struggles got me to be more honest about mine - first with myself and then a little sharing on my blog. My blog has never and will never be 'famous' for anything - I never had any desire to put myself out there in that way. It's basically an online diary that helps me remember things I want to remember and gives me a way to put thoughts on paper. For myself. For my kids.
I am thinking of her family and how incredibly difficult her death is for them. And I've been thinking about her - how she did everything she could do to stay here until she reached a point when she couldn't.
She will be greatly missed.
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