A couple of weeks ago the A to Z April Blogging Challenge lost one of its own. Tina Downey, who blogged at Life Is Good, lost her battle with pulmonary hypertension.

Tina was one of the pillars of the A to Z Blogging community. I had the good fortune to meet Tina in 2012, my first year of Challenge participation. I was lucky enough to be assigned to her group that first year. I had all of two weeks blogging experience back then and Tina was the mentor I needed to see me through April. Her group introduced themselves to each other and to Tina by email before the event and we know going in that we wouldn’t be alone.

Tina was a real nurturer who would check in on us regularly, whilst carrying her own A to Z blogging duties and also running the Challenge. She carried on long after the Challenge was over, leading the A to Z Road Trip. This is the trip through the A to Z Challenge sign up list that starts after the Challenge is over and lets participants visit those Challenge blogs that they missed during April.

The outpouring of thought and word for Tina is running through the blogging community. An outpouring not confined to Challenge participants and not confined by blogging platform.

Today, the blogging community remembers its own by decorating the blogosphere with sunflowers. The sunflower was Tina’s favourite flower and she deserves a field of them.

So, here’s to you Tina, may fields of sunflowers pave your way in the universe.

Austrian sunflower seeds from a moving train – July 2014 (c) curtainraiser

When I took the above picture I knew not its import nor its future use.

I’m glad it mattered. Glad for its meaning.

Glad to have crossed blogging paths with Tina.

Rest In Peace.

Image from Barney Livingston’s Flickr photostream