Emotional as I begin to type this. My sister Pam's husband passed away today. Jeff was a big, strong, affable man with simple tastes and a gentle spirit. He went to bed Sunday night a reasonably healthy 57 year old man. Infrequent bouts with asthma.  My sister woke to him gasping for air. She called 911, put on clothes, opened the door a little to let the EMTs enter when they arrived, and returned to find him unconscious. Paramedics arrived probably a little too slowly. Rushed to the hospital but as we have since learned, too late. 

Fortunately he had a living will and with no brain function, the family let him pass peacefully today.

He was survived by my sister and his two grown children. He got to hold his first and only grandchild who was born three months ago. 

I share this not only because we should all (as we all get older together on the VS) keep reminding each other to tell those we love that we love them, but also to honor my sister Pam, who is one of the integral reasons this website exists for all of us. 

Most probably don't know this, but back in the early '90s, Pam was an early entrant into the web hosting and domain registration scene. She had and has a business called Earth Plaza.  I had told Pam, a Gator, that I started posting on the gator sports board called GSMB under the screen name Mudlizard. When my birthday rolled around, she gave me a gift of the domain name "Mudlizard.com" and hosted it for me. The combination of that and my meeting a guy named Wayne Duck led to this thing. 

Long post. long day. Rest I peace Jeff. Be strong, Pam  

....and the VS is a family.

Please pass along my condolences to Pam.  And when the time is right, thank her again for her role in carving out this little corner of the internet that means so much to so many of us.