Someone who always rejoiced with those who were rejoicing
I had a few exchanges with Anna, but not many. Although the discussions we had were quite personal, as fan-to-fan encounters between people who share an intense interest but will never meet each other sometimes tend to be, I was not in the group of people who knew her well enough even to know she was ill. I remember thinking, when the contacts started, that they were unusually direct and unusually understanding.
Thinking back to the second half of 2012, when most of our exchanges occurred, I remember her as an unbelievably sweet-spirited correspondent; she wrote me spontaneously twice to weigh in on things I’d blogged about or stuff happening in the fandom — and to reassure me at what I now suppose must have been a time when she herself needed reassurance.
Anna stood among a group of fans who attended the Wellington premiere and met Richard Armitage.
Anna’s report of that event, “From an Armitage Ambassador: He’s smiling at you!” was published here. It encapsulates very much what I knew of her spirit and her values based on our extremely brief contacts. This is the piece most of us will remember:
… he was happy to see us there and engaged with us. And by us, I mean all of us, anyone who reads this blog.
Take another look at the smile above — he’s smiling at you.
It was the unbelievable last line that got me. When one fan meets him, we all meet him.
I realize now that when she wrote that, she may already have been thinking about things from the perspective of eternity.
She rejoiced with all who rejoiced and now I mourn with all those who mourn for her.
May her memory be for a blessing.
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[…] We still do; it’s a worldwide effort, following the guy’s media around. And, as the late Anna said, when one of us meets him, really, all of us meet him and when he smiles for a candid with one […]
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Are you ready for Richard Armitage in November and December? | Me + Richard Armitage said this on October 27, 2013 at 10:10 pm
[…] in Wellington in December, 2012. Anna died slightly later in 2013, and I wrote a brief memorial here and a longer one here, when I had had a chance to think. I still think of her and miss her emails […]
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Most viewed posts published in 2013 | Me + Richard Armitage said this on December 31, 2013 at 9:26 am