Knowing you in life

Oct 18, 2007

Last week, Megan Lambert died in Chapel Hill, and I’ve been so damn busy at work and at home that I haven’t yet observed her passing (obituary is here).

Megan was the mother of a child at my daughter’s day care, and on the mornings that I was dropping off Malia, Megan and Tristan were usually a few steps ahead of us. Our greetings were brief, usually as we passed in the tight hall between the restroom where the kids wash their hands and the classroom where they spend their days learning and playing, and I was hurrying out of the center and on my way to work.

Until Megan was struck down in her youth, I did not know her name.

I did not take the time to know her story, and here I am on the eve of the ConvergeSouth conference where I am to lead a session on storyblogging and oral history and memoir writing.

Sobering, to be faced with my inadequate connection to a human being so close, and now gone.

Megan Lambert, I’m sorry. May your soul rest in peace.

Anton Zuiker ☄