Ditto. Which is super lame, but there's really not much to be added to what Nicole said. I wish we could, as the Buffistas en mass, walk into whatever ER it was that ita usually ended up with and give all the doctors that gave her less than adequate care a good talking to. Make them see ita as a person, a real person, with hopes and dreams and aspirations, not just another person to be shut of one way or the other. Thinking about that sends me into "Hulk smash" mode.

Very well said, Nicole.

"She managed to be fairly private but also seem like an an open book, she could intelligently hand you your ass, if needed, and still be one of the most welcoming members of any online community and although she was entirely capable of killing you with her pinky, she could still convey warmth and caring and acceptance."

Thank you for catching all of this, Nilly. Especially the combination of the privacy and the kindness.

I just saw Deb's picture of her on Facebook and started crying in relief, because that particular picture was my memory instead of overwriting my memory. (If you see somebody with a floral name, it's me, and I friend back.)

Lush barely puts glitter in any of their bath bombs nowadays. How sad is that?

Betsy, I sent a friend request; I have the long-ass name that came with the husband.

Allibelle, that is a great story. I remember when she met you -- when I met you too -- she teased you mercilessly because you didn't like it when your food touched.

BRQG for the pain.

Erin G: Hey, all. I'm not dead or anything. Just black.

ita: You'd be surprised how many times I say that, myself.

Nicole, that was perfect.

Burrell: I'm dying of laughter. I remember that too. And I DISTINCTLY remember repeating myself, MULTIPLE times (that night and over the years), that I truly don't care if food touches. I care if leaky gross food, like pickles, touches and contaminates good food, like french fries, so that the good food now tastes like the bad food and is ruined. Which is a totally different thing altogether. She absolutely refused to recognize that distinction.

Here is flickr group of photos: [link]

Right now it's an open group, except that it's set up so the admin has to approve uploaded pictures. If someone else wants to be added as admin or something to back me up, volunteer away. I figured an open group was okay, since ita's flickr accounts let anyone see her photos and download them. I thought it would be easier if any family members want to look at them.

There are obviously way too many pictures, but once I got started, it occurred to me that y'all would like to see them in one place. I left out some that wouldn't print well.

Now we need to figure out a way to pick a good representative sample. Right now I have no brane.

Most of the photos from Facebook are too low-res for printing. If you have the original photo, please upload it.

I'm not sure I'm making a lick of sense. Try it out and we can deal with any problems tomorrow.

Having them all in one place is great, Ginger.