If you are very lucky, at some point in your life you will know someone who is truly good. Someone who helps transform the space around them into something better than it was. Someone who is willing and able to take a vision they have in their heart and try to see it realized in the real world. For me, this person Was Cyndi. In the World of Warcraft she went by the name Baelonna. She was my best friend, and today I come here to memorialize her.
Cyndi was a brilliant and complicated woman. She loved books, and not these modern E-books mind you. Solid, heavy books that you could hold. She loved the weight of books. She loved the smell of a new book. She loved the narratives that took you away and exposed you to places and ideas you might never otherwise know. She loved lists. Lists and charts and journals. She had notebooks full of notes she had taken every day going back years and if you ever needed some bit of info, she was probably the person to ask. She loved dogs. Great big dogs that shake your bed when they climb up onto it. Dogs that track mud into your house when they have been outside playing. She loved to cook because she loved good food, but more because she loved the joy it brought the people she cared for. And, oh my, she loved to care for people. I have never known a person so focused on the wellbeing of others. Cyndis first calling was as a nurse. She was a surgical nurse who at times literally held the hearts of patients in her hands. She was a nurse administrator responsible for the guidance and organization of a hospital full of nurses. Knowing her as I did, I realize that move was inevitable. I have never known anyone so genuinely focused on the well being of the people around her. She was brilliant in her ability to keep track of each and every individual person without losing sight of the larger goals we pursue as a group. She was always there with a birthday gift, a compliment when you do well, a kind word when you are down, or good advice when you make a mistake. She cared for people more than almost anyone I’ve ever met.
I met Cyndi over 12 years ago. She had joined the World of Warcraft raiding guild I run. The game, I found out, provided an outlet for her. In the game she could do things she otherwise couldn’t. Things like fly or cast spells. She could be like a character in one of her books. But she also struggled with illness. Cyndi had a number of very difficult, very painful health issues that grew worse every year. The game allowed her to run and jump and explore even on the days that her illness prevented her from leaving her bed. It distracted her from the pain and boredom and gave her an outlet. Although her body was limited, her spirit was able to soar. She battled dragons and tyrants, ghosts and demons. She celebrated her victories with friends and compatriots from around the world, and built friendships with people from all walks of life. And, inevitably for one so gifted, she became integral to the community we built together. She was a leader, an organizer, a mother figure, a mentor, a friend, and so much more. Words can’t hope to convey the extent to which she touched the lives of so many people. But for those who knew her… well, they know what she was and what she did. She was Baelonna. And that was quite a thing to be.
Every one of us walks a path in this world. All paths are different but they all end at the same door. We all walk through that door alone, and none of us are allowed to know what, if anything, lies beyond. But our individual paths brush against others over and over. It is easy to lose sight of how many paths we touch in the course of our journey. I doubt Cyndi really realized how many people she helped, how many people she helped to heal, to learn, to grow. I do know that in the days after her passing I have seen a deluge of sadness from so very many people in our community. I would like to encourage anyone reading this to take a moment… think about the people around you who, like Cyndi, have guided, protected, and cared for you in various ways. Think about them and try in some small way to let them know what they mean to you. Often the people in our lives who are the strongest and kindest somehow seem to carry the heaviest burdens. They shoulder the burdens of others, and yet hesitate to share their own. We, the loved, the cared for, must do our part. If you are so blessed as to have someone like Cyndi in your life, please, cherish them.
So on that note let us raise a glass to a fallen hero. Baelonna was her name and the forces of evil trembled at the sound of it. Heros rejoice for tho she has moved on, she has merely set down her burdens. She watches on from beyond to witness our triumphs and tragedies and she waits for us to join her in our own times. May we all strive to live and love in the spirit of her example. In this way, we may build a world worthy of people like her.
. Wonderful tribute to what sounded like a wonderful person.
