Epistemic Ingemination

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Fri, 31 Aug 2007

Tracy Lee Austin
March 26, 1959–August 29, 2007
Rest in Peace, and Welcome Home Again, beautiful Queen of Hearts.
You left this a richer world than you found it.

As many of you are now aware, Ryan's mom, Tracy Austin, took her own life on Wednesday. She was a good and kind person who suffered bipolar disease; she finally lost her struggle with depression. She was a fine and conscientious mother, and we had remained friends after our divorce and close partners in the gifts and responsibilities of parenthood. We together made sure that Ryan is supported and loved, and she will always have my great respect.

I want to thank all of you who have called and written with your support. It is comforting indeed. I'd especially like to thank Principal Troutman and Ms. Cannon from Pearce for their incredible attention and concern; I've never seen such support from so many. Today, the school sent a huge envelope containing handmade cards from Ryan's classmates. What an extraordinary gesture. What an extraordinarily comforting gesture to Ryan.

We are doing well, considering that we're only two days into this. In some ways, it is something that I've navigated before—I lost my mom at an early age, albeit to ill health, not by her own hand. We will continue to work our way through this as time unfolds; there is no roadmap. It is simply this thing that we have chosen to do, to come here and live this thing called life.

In the meantime, please know how grateful I am to you for your kind thoughts and your extraordinary support. We feel your sympathy and love, and we are comforted in our loss. Thank you all.

Posted at 13:59 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink] [Reload all] [E-mail]