I logged into my Facebook (FB) account late one night and landed on my account's homepage. Now, those familiar with FB will know that your bookmarks/quick links appear on the left, your news feed/updates from friends are in the middle, then there is a plethora of "stuff" in the right-nav.
After skimming through the latest updates from my FB family, I looked on the right side - specifically, at the "Suggestions" section. The second picture in the section was of my friend Erin, and FB urged me to "reconnect with her - send her a message". Of course, I immediately went to her profile to post something on her wall.
When I got there, something stopped me. Something told me to look and see what her other friends were saying...so I did. And what I found was unbelievable.
Message after message was posted on Erin's wall - all saying how much they missed her. After reading through a couple of the posts, I shook my head in disbelief and asked myself, "How could you have missed something like this?" Not wanting to confirm my suspicions, but knew I had to in order to set my mind at ease, I entered "Erin Maureen Swainston" into the search box on Google. The very first link confirmed my suspicions:
No obvious clues yet in Vancouver murder-suicide | OregonLive.com
A wave of sadness immediately washed over me. I was stunned. Now, granted, Erin and I hadn't kept in touch as well as I would have liked in the past 2-3 years. However, there would still be a random email or message sent, once in a blue moon - always just a "Hey! How's it going?" type of message going one way or the other. The fact of the matter is that you just never forget the people who influence your life, leaving their mark and making you the person you are today. Erin was one of those people.
My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to her daughter, Bailey Jo, and her mom Jeanni. For Bailey, I cannot begin to imagine what it's like for a 6-year-old to lose her mother and father in the same day. For Jeanni, I cannot imagine what it is like for a parent to outlive their child. Erin was only 34.
Erin, since I didn't get a chance to tell you often enough: I'm glad to have met you...I'm glad you were a friend. Thank you. Hugs...and much aloha...
ERIN MAUREEN SWAINSTON
Jan. 16, 1975 ~ Dec. 2, 2009
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