I did not know Heather Armstrong, but she will always hold a special place in my heart and in the narrative of my parenting journey. 

I started following dooce.com in 2005, after the birth of my daughter. Heather had given birth to her first child a year prior, and her blog posts about the new, bewildering world of parenting made me feel as though I had a wise friend by my side during moments when I could have felt all alone. 

I read her blog regularly in those early years. I went to her 2009 signing of IT SUCKED AND THEN I CRIED, her book about motherhood and postpartum depression. Later, I fell away from reading her work after we both had our second children and, as often happens, our paths and experiences diverged. 

Heather came back into my orbit in 2019 with her release of THE VALEDICTORIAN OF BEING DEAD, a chronicle of her depression and treatment. The audiobook, which Heather narrates, was told in her signature self-deprecating and unflinchingly honest style.

Over the last 4 years, I would occasionally visit her website to see what she was up to; in fact, I was probably due for my quarterly check-in. I was devastated yesterday upon learning she had passed away. To me, her work and her influence made her seem larger than life, indelible, permanent. 

Be at peace, Heather. Your warmth and wit lives on in your beloved daughters, and in the millions of lives you unknowingly touched.