Of Genealogy & Graveyards: Talking About The First Person I *Met* Online

/ Ally Bean

Every fall I think of this story. It happened 20+ years ago, and while it seems quaint and only slightly spooky now, I’ll admit that in the moment it gave me pause. 

LONG BEFORE THERE WERE BLOGS, the first person I *met* online was Darlie Ann.

I was doing genealogical research in the time before Ancestry.com.  Back then to find someone with knowledge about your ancestors you needed to leave inquiries on message boards that were on cemetery websites or historical society websites or county genealogical websites.

It was hit or miss.

On one of those boards I left an inquiry about my great uncle, trying to see if anyone knew anything about his early days as a lawyer in a small Ohio town that is north of where I lived then.

Darlie Ann, who lived in Texas, saw my inquiry and contacted me via email to say that her father had been my great uncle’s law partner– and that she had a few sheets of stationery from their law practice.

We communicated back and forth via email, and she offered to send me a sheet of the stationery to add to my file.  I reciprocated by sending her a copy of a group family reunion photo that showed my uncle as an older man.

• • •

DARLIE ANN AND I STAYED IN TOUCH FOR YEARS, like penpals, writing about our lives, exchanging Christmas cards, updating each other about any genealogical research we did.

In fact, in one email Darlie Ann mentioned that recently she’d been to Ohio visiting our small town and had gone to the cemetery where my parents are buried.  She’d taken the opportunity to find their graves, snapped 2 photos of their tombstones, and sent them to me.

So that I’d have the photos for my records.

• • •

CHRISTMAS ROLLED AROUND THAT YEAR, but I didn’t get a card from Darlie Ann.  It seemed odd, but she was older, born around the time my mother was, so perhaps she forgot me?

In the following months I emailed her a few times but got no reply.  I wasn’t entirely surprised because I knew she was selling her house and moving into an apartment.  I figured she was busy.

Welp, one beautiful fall day I opened my desk drawer and saw Darlie Ann’s photos of my parents’ tombstones.  I hadn’t been to the cemetery in years, and it kind of tugged at me that I should go visit.  So I decided that the next day I’d take a mental health day and drive 3 hours each way to go visit them.

And I did.

• • •

I GOT TO THE CEMETERY and parked my car by the oak tree that I use as a guidepost for getting to my parents’ graves in this older part of the cemetery.  But when I walked across the grass to where I thought they were buried I realized I’d parked about an acre north of where they were.

Wrong oak tree.

So I started to walk south casually glancing at the tombstones as I went.  Almost immediately I found myself looking at a new grave with a shiny new tombstone.

This was unusual in this older part of the cemetery.  These lots had been owned, and filled, by families from generations back.  But what was most fascinating about this discovery, and slightly unnerving, was the name I saw on the new tombstone.

Whose grave was I visiting on this glorious autumn day?  It was Darlie Ann, my first internet friend, who’d died a few weeks before and had come back home to be buried in this cemetery in the small town of her birth.

Now how trippy is that?

192 thoughts on “Of Genealogy & Graveyards: Talking About The First Person I *Met* Online”

  4. Wow. A serious of incidents. A very distant relative contacted me through Ancestry.com a few years back. She had a lot of info on my maternal grandmother that I didn’t have. By then she was living in South Caroline (a work move) and I’m in PA so we never met. She was in her 80s. The emails stopped coming. The obit of her husband (who was also from this area) appeared in our local newspaper. I emailed her but never received a reply. I don’t know what happened to her and I haven’t found an on-line obit for her.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, when something like what you described happens you wonder, don’t you? How could you not?

      I hope you get some closure about your SC relative, but wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t. Still, it could happen

      Liked by 1 person

      • It’s happened with bloggers too. I followed a woman who was in her upper 80s but sharp as a pin and healthy too. Her posts stopped abruptly. No closure. I won’t get information on the relative as we didn’t have any connected people locally. I think if she died, her obit would be in the local paper too (since they did her husband’s). I just wonder if she has health issues and perhaps in a specialized living situation.

        Liked by 1 person

        • M guess is the same as yours. She’s living in some specialized living situation and no longer concerned with keeping up with distant relatives.

          As for bloggers, same here. Sometimes they just vanish, leaving you to wonder. When I shut this blog down, you’ll know. Nothing vague about me!

          Liked by 1 person

        • Kate, so true about the way a blogger can feel almost a friend- until you realised you are but one of hundreds or thousands. Another weirdness of our works, made stranger when they just stop without explanation. You’ve given me a new thought for my digital executors. (? But who will they be?) They had better put a death-or-debility explanation on my blog. And within a month? Year? delete the blog. Blog posts not deathless words but words for the times,chats to our readers–for the most part. .

          Liked by 2 people

          • Rachel, you raise a good question about instructing your executors to delete your blog– but when? I know a blogger who comments here frequently. I know her because I followed her mother’s blog before I met her. When her mother died [unexpectedly] this blogger chose to keep the blog online as is so that she/we could go back and read her mother’s thoughts. It is a charming tribute to the staying power of her mother’s smart thoughts– and a comfort to that blogger.

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  6. Wow, I so didn’t see this story heading this way. I thought it was going to have more of a cynical twist, as in she convinced you that she was someone that she wasn’t. Not sure how that would’ve/could’ve happened.

    Glad to know she was who she said she was and so very interesting that you felt inspired to go for a visit, parked in the wrong place, and THERE SHE WAS. What are the chances?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ernie, back when I was doing this genealogical research people were more forthcoming online. It didn’t dawn on me that Darlie Ann might not be who she said she was. Plus she knew lots of deets about families in our small town. Today I’d be much less trusting.

      The series of events that lead me to her grave were so commonplace, yet there I was. And totally surprised.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. What a fantastic story! I hope you took a picture of her grave so that years from now you will find it and it will bring you back to that awesome day!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Beth, I did take a photo that I tossed into my genealogical research file even though we aren’t related. You’ve been to that cemetery, you know how many big trees there are in it. Easy to get lost

      Liked by 1 person

  8. What a sweet story about you and Darlie Ann. Actually, I did anticipate the ending. Good writer than you are, you did plant some clues.

    This week I placed an order to 23andMe, a DNA test for a grandson. It was his birthday request. I don’t think he doubts his parentage, just curious about lineage. ;-D

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marian, thanks for the compliment. I did try to gently lead you to where I was going with this. It’s a true story, and one I’ve always meant to write. Now I have.

      That’s an interesting birthday gift for your grandson. That kid may be a historian in the making. I wonder what he’ll find out, and how it jives with your understanding of your family lineage.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Wow! I call that genealogical synchronicity. So sorry about the loss of your first internet friend. I remember the days of those message boards and met a few distant cousins from them. How cool that Darlie Ann’s father and your great uncle were law partners and that you two found each other and became friends.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Barbara, the friendship was unexpected but also delightful. Back when I was into genealogical research leaving messages was the only way to make contact. I didn’t really expect anything to come from my messages, but in this case I hit the jackpot.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. I can’t help thinking that Darlie Ann was communicating with you through those photos – compelling you to make the trip.

    The “meeting” and “losing” online friends and the obligations/considerations implied by those relationships is something I’ve wondered about ever since I started blogging.

    There’s a tendency to approach these friendships the same you would a “real” in-the-flesh relationship. You keep in touch, you are concerned, supportive, curious. Online connections are as real to our emotional life as those formed offline.

    Ally, you take great care to alert your followers of your breaks from blogging. I’ve balked at doing that. Mostly because by the time I realize I’m taking a break, it’s been several weeks, if not months too late to post something along that line. But I feel a sting of shame for not following the “rules.”

    But what are those rules? Are there rules?

    Has the day come when bloggers need to leave instructions in the case they die?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Maggie, I too feel like I was meant to find Darlie Ann in the way that I did, and I am grateful about it. I’ve wanted to write this story for years, just ‘cuz, you know?

      I don’t know if it’s a rule to alert your readers/blog friends that you’ll be away from your blog for a while. I do it because I don’t want to confuse anyone with what’s up with me. And as a way of forcing myself to return to blogging, at a stated time. I’m true to my word so I show up again.

      You hit on a good point about what to do with your social media accounts once you’re gone. I don’t have any plan but maybe leaving specific instructions is the way to go. Will think on that more.

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    • Maggie, I read your comment with interest because I wrote a post about what might happen to our blogs after we leave this planet and whether we should leave instructions to our family in regards to our blog. Especially where it relates to paid WordPress plans (of which I have not). Food for thought that initiated an interesting discussion.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. I loved reading this so much. The internet has given us such wonderful ways to make connections with people that go all the way to our hearts. In Yiddish we say it was beshert, it was meant to be. Connecting with Darlie Ann was beshert.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Robin, I’m pleased that you liked reading about what happened all those years ago. I’m not familiar with ‘beshert’ and I agree that this meeting with Darlie Ann was just that. I appreciate learning a new word. Thanks.

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  21. Whoa! That is a great story! How amazing that you just happened to park by the wrong oak tree?? She sounded like a very sweet soul.

    I’m really into genealogy and started back before the internet, when your best bet was visiting an LDS site. There was one in a suburb of Cleveland, so I went around 1990. Then I got busy with kids and didn’t start working on it again until a few years ago. I use family search.org because it’s free. The problem is that there are LDS folks running and using it who are doing it for their religious practices and their research is not always reliable. Thus, I’ve at times found my ancestry traced back to folks like King Henry VIII, or even more doubtful, Jesus 🤣

    Liked by 1 person

    • Bijoux, you said it. If I hadn’t parked by the wrong oak tree, I’d have never found her. Fated to meet, I’d say

      I’ve read about the LDS genealogical site, but that was after I lost interest in finding out anything more about my ancestors. I realize it’s easier to do genealogical research today. I’m not familiar with the free site you mention, and might look at it.

      As for being related to Henry VIII, how wonderful, Your Royal Highness Bijoux. 😉

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  23. Although I tend to be a sceptic when it comes to “meant to bes” it’s hard to read this story and not think that you were meant to see that gravestone. Your story also made me think about how much harder certain tasks were to do before search engines and task-specific websites. I’m glad you and Darlie Ann found each other and enriched each other’s lives.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Janis, I certainly didn’t intend on finding Darlie Ann when I went to the cemetery, but once I did I felt like it was meant to be. In retrospect I think that our friendship paved the way for me to be a friendly blogger.

      And YES about how wonderful it is to have search engines and websites dedicated to genealogical research. Back in the day it took hours to find info that now takes seconds.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. I am always intrigued by stories like this Ally Bean. Does seem like there’s a reason you ended up where you did. Even more trippy would have been a mysterious email from Darlie Ann after the date of her death…

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Oh Ally, that gave me a chill! What a lovely and touching story. I’m glad you got to “meet” her, there are issues with the Internet age but I love the ability to connect with people who I would have no contact with otherwise.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Nicole, I’m sorry we never met in person, but she did introduce me to the idea of having friends across the miles who, like you said, you’d otherwise have no contact with. For me that idea may be her lasting legacy.

      Liked by 1 person

  28. It’s a lovely story and so circular, if that makes sense. We are looking for one thing but in going around looking for it, we happen upon something else. It also gave you closure on Darlie Ann.

    Liked by 2 people

  29. These distant cross-connections are amazing. One time I was visiting South Africa and during an off-road tour of Kruger Park unknowingly met the parents of the intern who helped during the birth of my son in Canada. We figured it out as we chatted and and they told me about her route to the small city where I then lived. As someone else here said, are there any coincidences?

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Perhaps it wasn’t the wrong oak tree! One of the painful things about online connections is when they suddenly go quiet and you don’t know what to do. But I’m glad you followed through on your instincts.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Jan, I’ve thought of that, too– it was the right wrong oak tree. I agree with you that it’s difficult to know what to do when an online friend suddenly isn’t around. I begin to worry.

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  31. Just…Wow!!! What an amazing coincidence. Unless it wasn’t.

    When I stopped writing my blog posts, I was amazed at the number of people who “checked in” on me. They wanted to be sure I was still above ground, I guess. It was kind of nice being missed!

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Yep, I believe the universe was guiding you to the right oak tree. Gives me chills when I read about stuff like that. Kind of makes me wonder if I should leave my passwords and such around so that if something happens to me the kids can write a blog post to let folks know about it.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Janet, I have to agree with you. I don’t know that anything like this has happened to me since, but when I found Darlie Ann’s grave I was stunned.

      I know what you mean about planning to have someone close your social media accounts with an explanation should the need arise. I’ve not done this, but it makes sense.

      Liked by 1 person

  37. Wow, you had me sucked in from the beginning. That’s quite amazing you stumbled upon Darlie Ann yourself and were able to give yourself that closure!

    Also, I was so scared you were gonna say you had been communicating with a ghost all these years 😭👻😨

    Liked by 1 person

    • bosssybabe, I was amazed when I found her grave but also kind of happy. It was the sense of closure and the idea that I’d finally met [in a way] my first internet friend.

      Yep, if I’d found out that Darlie Ann was a ghost I’d still be in therapy! 😳

      Liked by 1 person

  39. Very trippy indeed. I’m glad you found out what happened to her. So often we don’t (I think others have commented on that already). A couple of my blogging friends have died over the 20+ years I’ve been blogging, and it helped in some small way to know what happened to them. Others just disappeared.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Robin, I am grateful the closure. Obviously I wasn’t looking for Darlie Ann, but found her.
      I’ve had the same experiences as you, some bloggers have someone post something to tell us they are gone, while others are just [inexplicably] gone. 😐

      Liked by 1 person

  40. I’m sorry to read your friend is gone. Did you look up her obituary to learn more? That is very trippy to find her in that way. Your serendipity moments (as in finding missing answers) remind me of your post about noticing numbers. Ever since that post, I’ve thought of you every time I glance at my clock. I also think about blogger friends that I know are much older than I am and I haven’t heard from them lately. I wonder what happened to them.

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Perhaps I’m a little stranger than your average person, but I LOVE these kinds of coincidences (there are no coincidences!) when they happen. I am not surprised that all these years later, it still jumps to mind.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joanne, I get what you’re saying, I love that this happened, too. In many ways my connection with Darlie Ann gave me the gumption to start a blog, knowing that finding friends online is way cool. I am sad that I never got to meet her, though. Of course, taking the long view, maybe this is how it was meant to be. No coincidences

      Liked by 1 person

  42. Wow. What are the chances that you would stumble upon HER grave by accident? I think there was perhaps some divine intervention of sorts.

    Did you know there is a website where you can look up people’s graves?
    https://www.findagrave.com
    Kind of creepy, but also cool as we didn’t record the mausoleums that my grandparents were and we found them.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Suz, it seemed accidental in the moment but in retrospect it seems like I was destined to find her grave. Oak trees all look about alike to me, so there you go.

      I didn’t know about this website. I lost interest in genealogy before such a site existed. Thanks for sharing it here. Glad to know you found who were looking for with it. I might try to find some relatives whose names I have and that’s about all.

      Liked by 1 person

  43. Significantly. Significantly trippy. And a lovely story, even with the ending – at least you weren’t left wondering forever. I had a penpal in Italy when I was in elementary school – can’t remember how I got hooked up with her. The first time I went to meet an online friend IRL my husband was sure I was going to be found dead in an alley. Weird to think how commonplace it is now.

    Liked by 1 person

    • bibliomama2, you’re right. When I first started communicating with Darlie Ann it was so new and different to form friendships online. Now we do it without a second thought. Although I’d prefer to meet any current online friends while they’re alive, if I had my druthers.

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  44. It’s so trippy how the universe works sometimes! Love this story Ally, a very interesting reminder of how some things are just bigger than us. Darlie Ann was calling you that day, to let you know what had happened to her, of that I have no doubt!

    Liked by 1 person

  45. VERY trippy indeed. As I was reading further up, I sort of decided that she has passed, but I wasn’t prepared for you to find out that way. Wow. Certainly blog-worthy!

    I have failed miserably at Ancestry.com. I gave it a try during the pandemic, and somehow I screwed up a bunch of things. My attempt to fix them only made it all worse. But your post is giving me some motivation to try it all again. – Marty

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marty, it was a long time ago, but it’s one of those stories that I’ve meant to write about for years. I’m glad I found Darlie Ann, but sad that we never met in real life. She was delightful as an email penpal.

      I’ve never tried Ancestry.com. I gave up on genealogical research before it was around, but people love it. Good luck if/when you try it again. Who knows what skeletons you’ll find in your familial closet!

      Liked by 1 person

  46. Aweeee….oh sad…but kind of fortuitousness, you found her –literally by simply going in the wrong direction at the cemetery. I shall state, perhaps by the Grace of God. smiles.

    I am not a cemetery sort of person. Oh, we take care of my father in-laws, my husbands grandparents and uncles graves, but all in…no thank you. One day, last yr during the shut down, as I was writing my last paper, my husband suggested we go find Anna Cadogan Etz’s grave (I was writing a paper about the Suffragist movement). ANYWAYS, we found her way deep in the cemetery (the old part). What profound sadness. Just her name and date, same with her daughter and husband.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda, there is a subtle humor about how I found Darlie Ann. Had I known my oak trees better this story wouldn’t be. Still I am glad I got some closure about what happened to her.

      It is sad to see some of the very old tombstones. I’m not surprised by the simplicity of Etz’s grave, that was how it was back then unless you were very wealthy. Good of you to go looking for her, though. Did you get extra credit on your paper because of it? 😁

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  48. Spooky indeed. It seems like Darlie Ann was letting you know sending vibes guiding you unknowingly there. I do think there is something to these sort of experiences and also to DNA memory! I have had similar experiences so it is rather nice to think there is something vibe guiding us on some occasions, particularly when we want to know something about our past family or friends.

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Great seasonal tale! But what I love most about this story is how it inspired you to end up where you are today – with a much loved blog. I find it hard to believe how much my world has changed since my first experience with the internet. Although I learned how to use computers, I never considered the possibility of connecting with people that way. I remember being shocked to receive an email from a distant relative when I was working at a UK University. He’d seen our shared surname and simply reached out. I was totally freaked out, but when I repeated the story to my father, he told me he’d heard of him (he was a famous mathematician at Trinity College in Dublin and we were distantly related). I did reply, somewhat belatedly, but I heard nothing further. It was a disappointment, but I’d probably left it too long to reply.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Deb, before I wrote this I hadn’t thought about the positive impact that my first internet friend had on my subsequent internet connections. But you know, if Darlie Ann had turned out to be an awful person, I’d have been more reluctant to start a blog.

      It’s interesting how you realize now that when your distant relative reached out to you, you could have made a connection. I wouldn’t fault myself for not replying quickly. We didn’t know what we were getting into back then. Who would have thought that email and social media would change what it means to be friends to the degree it has? In the early days of the www, not me.

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  51. Oh gosh. I am crying now. What a sad yet beautiful story of friendship and loss. Another blogging friend was writing recently about how short life is. This is yet another example of how we maybe should appreciate (even more) what we have. I lost a precious blog reader/friend and found her obituary online after she went silent for awhile. Thanks for sharing this. xoxo

    Liked by 3 people

    • Kathy, it is a sad story but one that was/is so unusual that I needed to write it here. You’re right, we need to appreciate the connections we make online [and everywhere] while we can. I’m sorry about your friend, but am happy that you found her obit. That helps in a way. As did finding this grave, unexpected as it was.

      Liked by 2 people

  52. I find this fascinating. I’m in the middle of watching a Netflix series called Surviving Death all about the potentiality of life after death.

    I’m not sure what I believe 100% but I definitely feel there is something greater guiding us, too many things like your experience happen for there not to be.

    The wrong oak tree…but as it turns out for you on that day it was the right one to say goodbye to Darlie Ann.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Rae Cod, the series you’re watching sounds fascinating, maybe a little macabre. I do feel like I was guided that day to find Darlie Ann, although at the time I didn’t have the understanding that I do now. I agree that the wrong oak was the right one, and how trippy is that!

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  54. Wrong oak tree? No indeed. And, I imagine, it was a comfort to know what became of Darlie Ann. I once asked my mom if she wanted me to take her to visit Daddy’s grave. She said, “Why? He’s not there, you know,” She’s there now, beside him. Or not there, as it were.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Anna, it is odd how the wrong oak tree became the right oak tree. I’ve thought about that often. I agree with your mother, I’m not into visiting relatives in the cemetery but on that day I was.

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  57. Very trippy indeed Ally. It is as if she reached out to you somehow, enticing you to that graveyard where you made the grim discovery. I’d have been unnerved too. But thankfully you confirmed the reason why she disappeared after you’d been corresponding and exchanging genealogical tidbits. My neighbor had a revelation in the pre-Ancestry research era. She was doing the same as you, chat sessions, etc. to glean info and she discovered another Marge Flanigan, same name – not related to her, but to her husband!! And he never knew about her.

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  59. Ally – I have to amend my comment and clarify something. After I shut down my computer I realized my comment made no sense – let me try again please. My neighbor, Marge AUBIN, was into tracing the family tree in the pre-Ancestry software days. She was delving into her husband (Maurice “Moe” Aubin’s) family tree and discovered a woman named Marge FLANIGAN (Flanigan was Marge’s maiden name) in his family tree … and not a gazillion “times removed” either. She chatted online with the other Marge Flanigan, who said she had never heard of her husband, who was Canadian and grew up in Quebec. She was very uneasy about the whole situation. Also both women were born “Marjorie” but went by the nickname “Marge”.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Linda, got it. THAT is one odd, odd story. I understand why your neighbor would have been freaked, especially before our current search engines. Now if you input your name in Google you get pages and pages of people with the same, or similar, name as yours. But back then, finding *yourself* somewhere else in your family lineage would have given me pause, too.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Marge was upset to find the info Ally and dwelled on it for days but still corresponded with her. My name is all over the internet for a realtor in Traverse City, Michigan. Sometimes the blog comes up – not always though. A high school friend is very into tracing her ancestors and has used English-speaking professional genealogists from different countries to help complete those searches. One day for kicks she said “let me do your tree for you – do you mind?” My maternal grandfather was French-Canadian as was her maternal grandfather. She learned we were related through our grandfathers 31X removed. She was all excited about it and printed it out and scanned it in to show me. And then I go and say I have no relatives. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

        • I know some people are really into genealogy and enjoy the search as much as finding the results. It was good of your friend to offer to research your family line, but what are the odds that you’d be related, albeit very distantly. 31X removed would make a great name for a band!

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  60. What a great story, Ally. I used to go to the Genealogical Library here in Salt Lake City with my Mom, and we’d look through old documents and research our ancestry together. Those were special bonding times, and it was so cool to picture those people’s lives based on the records that survived.

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    • Christie, that sounds like such a wonderful experience. I can see how that is something with your mother you look back on with a smile. I’m glad I found Darlie Ann, but not glad, too. If’n that makes sense.

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  65. Oh my, how I love stories like this yours and Darlie Ann’s (and you tell it well). I like to think these stories set us straight just when we think we have this crazy world all figured out. We really don’t, do we? Also, “Darlie Ann” is a new one for me. I wonder if Darlie is short for Darling? They just don’t make names like they used to anymore 🙂

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    • Dave, you’re right this story made me stop and reconsider when it happened, still does. Life is freaky sometimes. I think her given name was Darlie Ann, but it could have been a nickname for Darling. If nothing else, it’s a name you remember.

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  67. Such a coincidence – I often wonder about those moments that bring us a connection or discovery we wouldn’t have had otherwise. I’ve had a few as well. Good that you were able to know what happened to her.

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  69. Ally, I hope you never stop blogging. It’s not just your blog posts that appeal to so many of us, but your generous and thoughtful engagement with all those who comment. That’s so special. Your community of readers are fully engaged and committed, I love that.

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  70. I read this story the other day and only just am properly catching up now with making a comment. Oh wow Ally, what an amazing story over your first online friend, Darlie Ann. Uncanny that you should wonder why she was being so quiet with you and then you stumble across her grave that gave you this answer. This is an example of something I just touched on in my post and had you not gone to the graves and ended up in the wrong place, you might never have known for sure what even happened to her. Gosh what a small world.

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    • Katy, it was an uncanny experience, for sure. I can’t explain why I opened that drawer and was suddenly drawn to go to the cemetery but I was– and meant to go there I’d say. I’m happy I found her grave, but sorry that I never met her in person. She was a positive influence on me, especially later when I decided to start a blog. Through her I realized people online could be friendly and sincere.

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