A sad month

I was already a bit down last week upon learning that one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, has died. She was 88, and at least her family, friends, and fans can take some solace in the fact that she lived a long, full life and died naturally. I believe I will revisit her books soon. In fact, I meant to anyway, and I found out about her death while perusing her Wikipedia page to check her bibliography. I did a project on her in high school, in which I read beyond the Time Quartet, including the Austin novels and a few others. Although I am not a religious person, I greatly admired her approach to faith--tolerant, inclusive, instead of threatening, as I found other approaches.

So when Mark came to sit by me in the middle of reading the news online last night, I had a definite sense of foreboding. Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time books, has died. I am immensely saddened and my thoughts are with his family, but I can't help thinking, "I knew this would happen!" I remember thinking, about ten years ago, that the series would never end and began to worry that he would die before completing it. When I heard he was ill, but still working on the final volume, I worried even more. Well, here we are. The book exists, in the form of drafts, notes, and dictations, so I'm sure it will be released. It'll all very sad.

Rest in peace, Madeleine L'Engle and Robert Jordan, and thank you for what you have given us.