We’ve lost a friend.
I regret to write that Jamie Leigh Dyer Dordek, known to many of us as yellowsuitcase and @jamield, passed away on Sunday. Her death appears to be related to a blood clot from her fall in Ireland.
This news was passed to me on Sunday evening, and I still cannot entirely process it. She and I became fast friends on the internet. We have no exact memory of when or how we connected on Twitter, but we agreed it had to be Favrd — the reason many of us are gathered here.
Before her appearance on Tumblr, she authored a blog with her best friend Moose called ORD to LAX — the premise of which was a long-distance conversation between old friends. Jamie and her husband both hailed from the Chicago area but moved to Los Angeles a few years ago in part to allow her to pursue a career in marketing. We had hoped to meet each other in person at a Chicago Tweetup in the near future.
Most of us know Jamie from what she contributed on Twitter and Tumblr. She adored many of us and was adored by many of us. She came from a loving family and married into a loving family. She made friends. She read books. She liked taking pictures. She had dreams. She traveled. She drove with the top down. She played with her dogs. She sang to her dogs. She drank beer. She opined. She expressed. She aspired. She took chances. She loved her husband. She laughed. She lived.
Life is so precious because it is so fleeting. Call a loved one today. Call two. Call ten. Call someone you rarely talk to for reasons you can’t exactly remember. Call someone you rarely talk to for reasons that are too strong to forget. Hug your spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends, kids a little harder today. Sing songs with them. Be silly with them. Let them know they are precious.
It’s amazing how easily we form connections around the people we meet online. And for being digital those connections are no less real - I was amazed at the disbelief I felt when I read this. And so I just can’t imagine what her family must be going through. Stuff like this makes me wish I prayed (and yes, I know how stupid that sounds).
