You Will Be Missed…

He who gives should not remember, and he who receives should always remember.
--Anonymous

Heather Emeraldflame.  True to her name, she was a light of a special, different color; a gem not many knew of.  Though most of her adult life was full to the brim with unique, overwhelming difficulties, she hung on courageously and quietly.  Because of nature’s restrictions, much of her recent life has been devoted to the world we know as the Spiral.  With over 13 Grandmasters and extensive experience with dual-(and sometimes even triple)-boxing, she was a player of many impressive surprises, but her feats were of true awe.

Originally at this link, Heather’s blog was full of crisp commentary and review about her characters’ adventures, and openly shared her achievements and analyses.  Each post was about essay length, but the eye-opening fact behind her work was the effort she placed behind each line that she wrote.  There was typing difficulty, never given the chance to take classes; and her condition made it hard for her to see clearly.  She struggled with the mechanics and physical aspects of producing her blog, but emotionally and mentally, her passion for the game drove her to continue.  Even if her posts took many hours out of her day, and even if she strained here and there, she would still write and write.  All of this was unbeknownst to us.

The depth, quality, and length she placed into her textual voice was probably the most noticeable characteristic for us in the Blogosphere, and was one of the first things that started our friendship.  Her insightful responses to some thought-provoking posts made by The Friendly Necromancer were of epic length and full of sense, and back and forth we discussed mechanics or theory-crafted in the Comments section.  Many times, I imagined that Tom, along with others, would feel wide-eyed when seeing our massive “conversations,” but we never felt that it was odd to be so expressive.

Soon we were emailing one another, talking about our favorite series (Dragonlance) and commenting on the lengths of text and time we put into writing.  Eventually we began playing together, to the point where my own group of friends were subconsciously wondering where I was.  Heather was truly skilled as an individual in AI anticipation, and a committed farmer.  If you were looking for help with finding something, she was glad to help until her limits were reached.  She became another friend that I spent time with everyday, like Cheryl Fire and Ronan Dawn. 

A quiet individual, she focused more on actions than words, and consequentially would go unnoticed, in appearance and work.  When her Wizaversary came the day after Fallon Moongem’s, there wasn’t as big a celebration, but a few of us made her day with just simple Tweets and wishes.  It took her a lot of courage, and a lot of encouragement and support, to finally share her wisdom on the Storm School, on Episode 21 of Ravenwood Radio, and it sparked (pun unintended) motivation and inspiration for many listeners to pick up a Diviner.  She helped apart and as a part of the Petnome Team, training her legion of pets in secret and sharing mountains of data with us.

Heather and I ran into very numerous misunderstandings and misinterpretations, to say the least.  Regretfully, I have much reason to doubt that she saw my last words (from months ago) to her, and it numbs me to know there wasn’t any true closure between us.  I thought that there would be a day when a bridge could form again, but now that is lost.  But, memories of Heather won’t be, and the Twizard and Wizard101 community echoes that fact, here on John Lifeglen’s post.

Her Twitter name was h2oEmeraldFlame, and her Xfire username was oceandaydreamer.  These references to water represent her dream to escape to the beach or an island, away from her current lifestyle.  I cannot say whether she was able to fulfill that dream before her passing, but I hope Celestia, with the vision of the bottom of the ocean, has partially helped with that wish.

Here’s to you, Heather…take care…:

--Kevin