natalie jane / st. genevieve

[bobbob1313]

I just remembered she was the one who introduced me to the giant isopods...

 

That is the kind of bitterweet memory that this type of thing always brings out.

 

It is really hard for me (and I'm sure many of you) to come to grips with this. It's really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that even though I didn't know her in real life, she was still very much a real person who meant so much to so many people and impacted their lives in tremendous ways. It makes me wish I had known her more than just, you know, being friends on viachicago and livejournal and stuff. And to know that won't happen now makes me sad. She was one of the most unique people I have ever encountered, even through the internet, and she will be missed.

[a.miller]

I just wanted to offer my greatest condolences. I don't know any of you in person, but I feel like I do. It's a terrible shame to have lost one of our own.

 

I wrote and recorded little song tonight, which will hopefully help some fellow VCers through these trying times.

 

Here is a sendspace link to the song: A.Miller - St. Genevieve

[pillowy star]

Wow. That is awesome, A. Miller. How people can be so gifted that they just sit down and write a song within a few hours will forever be beyond me.

 

Thanks for sharing your gift with us

[PigSooie]

I just wanted to offer my greatest condolences. I don't know any of you in person, but I feel like I do. It's a terrible shame to have lost one of our own.

 

I wrote and recorded little song tonight, which will hopefully help some fellow VCers through these trying times.

 

Here is a sendspace link to the song: A.Miller - St. Genevieve

 

 

Hey, man thanks for that.

[a.miller]

Thanks for sharing your gift with us

 

Hey, man thanks for that.

You are both very welcome.

[Edie]

I just looked at some of her most recent posts. Here's one that I LOLed over at the time (like many)

 

In the RSGF thread

 

Much hilarity insued.

 

Plus we both said we did not like the Big Lebowski. I felt validated.

[WildMercurySound]

I just logged on for the first time in a long time and read this sad news... Rest in peace Natalie.

[EL the Famous]

i've been away for the web and just saw this. she was the first person on VC to actually engage me in conversation/answer questions...aside from that, she was a wonderfully creative, funny, intelligent individual. i'm so sad to hear this and my prayers go out to her friends and family.

[TheMaker]

I didn't know Nat either, but I'd also like to extend my sympathies. She had the kind of vibrant personality that somehow manages to transcend the anonymity of cyberspace and remind you that an actual person is responsible for the words you're looking at on the screen. I can see why everybody who had the privilege of knowing her is so broken up by this news. This was quite a shock to have to hear about. RIP.

[Queen Amaranthine]

Like everyone here, I'm very sad to hear this.

 

Natalie was a midwife at heart and soul. She was a tremendous help to me when I was thinking about having children and during my first pregnancy in 2005. I'd had many fears and concerns about the whole pregnancy and childbirth gig (as well as parenting!). Without her support and information, no doubt it all wouldn't have been as surprisingly smooth as it was! My children are the lights of my life, and she was instrumental in helping me gain confidence to have them.

 

Thank you, Natalie.

 

I have two of her tinfoil scultures, a St. Gen. and the name of the other escapes me...a fertility goddess, I'm sure I have her note that came with it somewhere.

[Reni]

[kidsmoke]

Much love to you and Robin for your memorial tonight, Kate. It looks beautiful and heartfelt. I thought of you, and Natalie, often today.

 

My heart is still breaking. Is she really gone? Hard to absorb, even after days. I miss her.

[Clouds of Fluff]

Thanks so much to Robin and Kate for doing this. So beautiful and fitting.

 

We miss you, Nat.

 

xoxo

[Reni]

Donna, as you might have been able to see from the other photos, your card and poem arrived just in time. They were beautiful.

 

Clouds, I loved your sculpture and we also really enjoyed the ginger bears you sent.

 

Everything, besides the candles (the river would just swallow them on contact) were set into the river.

 

The flowers were so lovely, and came from the McCormick family.

 

Thank you to everyone to sent their love and spirit.......you were all there.

[LouieB]

I must be missing something...

 

Did any one from here attend the Portland memorial service? If so could someone give a brief symposis of what occured...Thanks.

 

I have one additional thought that keeps bugging me. I know Natalie didn't get along with her parents so well, but as a parent I would hope that they found some sense of peace before her passing.

 

LouieB

[Reni]

Portland memorial service is today. Sooz is in Portland and will be attending.

[poppydawn]

Last night's ceremony in Ste. Genevieve couldn't have been more perfect. First we walked through downtown Ste. Gen. We found Ste. Genevieve Winery just as they were closing, but they let us come in and buy two bottles for the ceremony. We were going to go into the Church of Ste. Genevieve and light a candle, but Mass was in session.

 

Even though Ste. Genevieve sits on the Mississippi River and was under over 40 feet of water in the 1993 flood, there's not much in the way of river access. We had to drive down a gravel road into unknown territory. We came to the tiny ferry boat dock, which had several rock outcroppings into the river nearby. There were some fisherman who looked at us like we were about to conduct some sort of Satanic lesbian goat sacrifice, and they made a hasty retreat.

 

It was dusk when we found our spot, and by the time we arranged the flowers, candles, and notes, it was pitch black aside from our candles. There was so much cloud cover that we didn't see the moon until after we were finished. We placed the McCormick's beautiful purple bouquet in the center, surrounded it with the notes, readings, prayer cards, wine and Fluff's perfect little tinfoil sculpture, and then arranged the candles. As you've seen from Kate's photos, it was beautiful. Just pure, serendipitous beauty, as we had no real plan on what we were going to do with all the stuff.

 

We opened the bottles of wine, talked about Nat and our VC friends, and then embarked on the readings. If anyone wants to share what they sent, go for it. I don't want to violate anyone's privacy. I chose to read Tear-Stained Eye, words that were surprisingly appropriate for the occasion. After each reading, we would toast Nat with the wines that shared her name.

 

When we finished the readings, we sent the pieces of paper into the river's current, followed by the individual flowers from the bouquet before blowing out all of the candles. There were many tears in the darkness after we extinguished the last candle.

 

As we left the river, Kate cranked up Uncle Tupelo: 89/93 and we sang "Screen Door" and "Graveyard Shift" at the top of our lungs while driving along that gravel road by the river.

 

So many people here last night were spoken of with love and affection. You were with us.

[jenbobblehead]

here is the mark strand poem i sent to Robin for last night's memorial:

 

From the shadow of domes in the city of domes,

A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room

And made its way to the arm of the chair where you, looking up

From your book, saw it the moment it landed.

That's all There was to it. No more than a solemn waking

To brevity, to the lifting and falling away of attention, swiftly,

A time between times, a flowerless funeral. No more than that

Except for the feeling that this piece of the storm,

Which turned into nothing before your eyes, would come back,

That someone years hence, sitting as you are now, might say:

"It's time. The air is ready. The sky has an opening."

[poppydawn]

The poem was beautiful, Jen.

[Reni]

agreed. it moves me more with every reading.

 

thanks for posting a report Robin

[gogo]

There were some fisherman who looked at us like we were about to conduct some sort of Satanic lesbian goat sacrifice, and they made a hasty retreat.

I'm sure that Natalie would have loved this.

 

Thanks to you both for doing this.

 

 

Kate, I'm reposting your other photos here, because they're so beautiful, and I don't want anyone to miss them:

 

for Natalie:

 

 

 

 

[poppydawn]

Maudie, it was beautiful, and your flowers played such a huge part in that. They looked and smelled amazing. Before we left my house, we were having a hard time keeping my kiddo out of them. She thought they were the coolest thing ever.

[Edie]

I second Maudie's sentiment -- this was really great for you guys to do this. Natalie will live on through all of us.

[poppydawn]

A few more photos:

 

Maudie's flowers:

 

Kate, lighting candles:

 

Fluff's sculpture:

 

Flowers & messages, floating downstream:

(It looks better here.)

 

The rest of my photos are here.

[kidsmoke]

It's all so beautiful and perfect that I'm dissolved in tears again. Thank you, ladies, you staged a beautiful ceremony. The shot of the river is poignant & lovely.

 

This is the poem I wrote for Nat.

 

Sweet Natalie

when we first met

you drew me in

with your laughter and wit

our friendship deepened

as you shared of yourself,

with tinfoil gods

come to live on my shelf

In every post

whatever you