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| Sue in the bottom left, you could never tell she was a gamer... |
Of things I thought I would write today,
this was not amongst them…
Earlier today, around seven in the
morning, one of my oldest and dearest friends passed away far too young, her
name was Sue Wilson, and she was one of the few constant companions throughout
adventure that I have had the joy of knowing.
Two months ago, she was walking around with
a mild case of heatstroke, and last night I sat by her bedside with her husband
John, leaving only to return home to sleep, knowing that the mornings wake up
call would likely be the news we had all been dreading.
And it was…
People have been asking me how she died,
and I won't say...
I will tell you how she lived…
I met Sue the best part of twenty years
ago, part of the SLA industries mailing list Station Analysis, and we had
similar senses of humour (a good thing in the early days of the net), and it
wasn’t long before we’d arranged to meet up and game, and so I saw Sue almost
every month of every year between then and now.
She was a brilliant GM, a master at
improvising, and you could always tell the table that Sue was working at a
convention…
They were howling with Laughter…
The laughter got so much that other GM’s dreaded being
in the same room as Sue in the same way comedians dreaded being on stage after Robin
Williams, they had no chance against whatever she was up to, and I ended up
putting her in smaller rooms so she didn’t depth charge too many other games
with the joy she brought to her table...
She went to all the conventions I ever
organised, always ran in all the slots, and even when she found out it was cancer,
she was still planning to come down to Dragonmeet and run games, down to
planning on bringing a range of different wigs to help her switch between
NPC's.
She was a fierce friend, she’d stand in
the way of Gods and Monsters for someone she loved, and she never backed down,
no matter the odds. You could converse with her on any subject and she’d be
able to hold her own. We adventured from
the Edge of Mort to the darkside of Greyhawk and faced death a hundred times…
But not like this…
And I will remember as she lived, because sometimes you lose members of the party,
and while we’ve still got a Magic User, a Paladin, a Rogue, a Monk, and a Cleric, our
Bard is playing somewhere else tonight, and it won’t be
as bright and colourful as it was, but we'll adventure on...
Don’t wait for tomorrow to do what you
want to do today, every day can be an adventure if only you take the first step forwards, there are others like Sue out there even now, people that brighten every part of your day. There are places full of wonder and bright days filled with joy, so don't wait, don't fill your day with What If and Maybe, reach for what you want, don't listen to the doubts, give your joy to the world, because what you give to the world comes back to you many times over.
Most of all, live for today, because when you're waiting for tomorrow, it never comes...
I will miss Sue forever, but I'll carry with me her joy of life and give it to those who need it, as she would have...
Don't get any ideas though, no group hugs...
