REST IN PEACE, LISA ...

Tragedy has struck the "extended" 7th and Montana family.  A friend and former colleague of mine, Lisa, has just passed away unexpectedly.  Out of the blue, she was stricken with a rare form of Meningitis.  One day she was fine and the next -- last Thursday -- she was rushed to the hospital.  Within hours, even before learning what was wrong with her, she slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness.  She died on Tuesday.  The news -- which I learned from Facebook -- came as a shock.  I've always though of Lisa as the Queen of Adversity.  Throughout her all-too-short life, she overcame obstacle after obstacle and always, somehow, managed to keep her sense of humor.  This photo -- taken five years ago for my blog -- is a case-in-point.  Lisa, always the first to arrive in our office, would turn on the lights, power-up the printers, check the fax machines and generally get everything ready for the day.  On February 7th, 2006, she got more than she bargained for:  Someone, somehow, slipped into our office in the dead of night and left a glass of urine on her desk.  Lisa turned the whole thing into a joke.  After the men in white lab coats and rubber gloves removed the offending evidence, Lisa re-enacted the whole scene for my blog with a glass of juice.  That was Lisa.  When life gave her the lemons, she made lemonade.  In the end, it took a form of Meningitis so rare the Centers for Disease Control has launched an investigation into it to get her down.  Rest in Peace, Lisa.  I'll miss you.