I've NEVER had worse news in my email inbox than I got this morning. :o(

I've been a regular reader and poster off and on... mostly ON... to the Usenet newsgroup rec.pets.cats.anecdotes since 1995. (Well, for the first few years, it was rec.pets.cats; then RPC was split into separate newsgroups. But I digress.)

I haven't met the people on that group in real life, but I've discussed things with them via the newsgroup, exchanged emails with some of them, and basically view the other regulars as friendly acquaintances whom I hold in high regard. There are a lot of genuinely good people who take part in that group, and I'm glad I "know" them, even if all we know one another by is printed words on a screen and digital pics in online albums.

So when I received the e-mail this morning that Grace from RPCA's two-year-old daughter Eve was killed in an accident, I sat frozen in shock and grief. Everyone at RPCA went through Grace's pregnancy with her, sharing her prenatal concerns, rejoicing at Eve's birth, celebrating landmarks like when Eve began to sleep through the night,and so on.

Now the whole newsgroup is GRIEVING together, posting about our tears and shock, trying to get a group effort together so we can send flowers to the funeral home from RPCA.

So anyone who sees this, would you please spare some prayers and thoughts for Grace, her husband, and her other daughter who recently began first grade? They're good people and it breaks my heart that they're going through this kind of suffering.