Mid morning, got an email that one of my teammates in the Phillipines had passed away. No specific cause given, but it sounds like it was Covid or Covid adjacent from a comment from one of my coworkers there.

Of course my first thought was, “But, she just emailed me like, last week” – as though the act of sending an email had rendered her immortal.

She was a lovely person to work with, and I am incredibly sad and will miss her. I’m gutted for her family and her team in the PI – they’re an incredibly close knit group and I know this is devastating for them. And in a time when they so need to be together to support each other and grieve – they can’t.

Whatever it was, it was also terribly fast – she was out on the17th and her OOO message was that she’d be back on the 20th – and she just never came back.

Life is short as it is, Covid has just made it worse. Get vaccinated if you can. Mask up.

Hug your family and pets. (Lily has gotten a lot of squeezing.) Tell people you care. Take a pass on that uncomped overtime. Take up that hobby you’ve been wanting to try but you think you’ll suck at it. Get takeout from that *fancy* restaurant. Put that streak of purple in your hair.

Take care.