When the Circle of Life Kicks You in the Nuts, then Hands You a Margarita

I’m a jumble of emotions this morning.

The very first tweet I saw when I woke up was about the sudden, heartbreaking death of Kathreen Ricketson, founder and nurturer of Whip Up, one of the most thoughtful, well curated crafts blogs.

Over the years though infrequently, I had the pleasure of being in touch with Kathreen, and though I really didn’t know her well at all, I always admired her openness and warmth, and Whip Up has been amongst my favourite blogs since she started it oh so many years ago.

Along with, I imagine, most of her readers, I was in awe of her well-planned adventure, taking a year off with her family to travel and write about it. That she died during this trip, with her kids on the shore calling for help, breaks my heart more thoroughly than I can express.

The Whip Up team is working to set up an education fund for the kids. I’ll update this post with a link when more information is available. With the consent of the children’s family, a trust fund has been established for Otilija and Orlando.

And then.

An hour after trying to swallow this news and adjust my world accordingly, we got a call from my brother-in-law that our shiny new niece was born this morning. All health and happiness and smiles we could hear across the continent via the miracle of telephonics.

And so I find myself in the very still, quite alarming state of feeling simultaneously mournful and jubilant.

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what to do with myself today.

Claudio.Ar via Compfight