After producing my morbid post yesterday, I received startling information that a friend of mine from college had died in a car accident. Meg had come down to Louisiana from Maine a couple of months ago to help in the post-Katrina relief effort. She had rounded up some do-gooders who intended to commit their services in Mississippi, Alabama and finally Louisiana. All thirteen had come down in a vegetable oil running van and probably had a blast of a road trip. Traveling down Poydras, the van swerved indecisively onto the I-10 on ramp. My other good friend Peter was on the van and suffered some injuries. I still don't know the extent of his condition. My heart goes out to you,
I had known Meg in college and spent a good deal of time with her my Junior year. I'd like to share one of my favorite memories of her. It was founder's day at Vassar, a festival of spring where the collegiate population of the bubble in Poughkeepsie released their hedonistic needs by the pleasantries of sunset lake. I remember tripping with her on one of the grassy knolls under the shade of a white blossomed tree. The weather was perfect, blue and green and speckled in layered shadows. We were sitting on a blanket enduring the waves. She had been sporting a fantastic pair of blue lensed sun glasses. I myself had those stylish five dollar orange tinged aviators. We sat cross legged facing each other preparing for our newly discovered game. We closed our eyes and fumbling in our own personal darkness removed our glasses, traded them new opoosing colors and all, and reopened our eyes. Struck by the magnitude of a world in a new shade of hue, we laughed and rolled around and did it again, and again, and again. Meg was a contagious smiler and exuded affection. Never allowing herself to fall into laziness, she always pursued one selfless cause after another. Many will miss you Meg, and many more would have if they got the priveledge to meet you. I'm sure many are indebted to your emotional and spiritual generosity. I hope you're speckled with layers of shadows on a grassy knoll under the love of a white blossomed tree.
