Pat: A tribute from Dervala

Ok so I'm testing this Google Reader service.
Nonethe less this is a tribute and a portrait of an unique person. Dervala is always worth reading.

Pat: "My email address attracts crud like a Swiffer. Every day, the spam filter sweeps hundreds of messages into a Junk folder. Because I often get genuine messages from people I don?t know, I flick through it once in a while, and whenever I rescue something from a real person, it makes me wonder about the ones I?ve missed. This one I couldn?t miss. The subject line read ?Sorry to inform you that Pat died in her sleep 8-21-05.? It took me three days to open it, and three weeks to sit and write this. When I was twenty, I went to Valencia for a year learn Spanish. That first week I huddled in a hotel above a sex shop, counting my traveller?s cheques for comfort. I had no idea how to find work or friends or a place to live. In the lobby, I met a Californian who had come to Spain to forget a Greek love affair. Debbie showed me the in-cup heating element she used to make tea in her room, and cried because, at 42, she knew now she would never have children. I pitied her, and decided I liked Earl Grey. Debbie was moving on to..."

Read the whole thing. It's a lesson in how to write a memoir.