Aveline - requiescat in pace
I've read some really good tributes to Aveline. She really touched a lot of people in positive ways. I my experience of Aveline, I always liked the fact that whenever I spoke to Aveline it made no difference that we came from quite different backgrounds, musical tastes, jobs & skillsets; dressed differently; had different takes on the world in general. Nor should it, but it does make a difference, we all know that, we've all seen that. Aveline just exemplified that what mattered was the person *inside*, not the external appearance and the assumptions you therefore made about them based on that (even if just subconsciously). That was who you spoke to, a person, who had their own way of doing things and expected to be respected for who she was, what she did, and her take on life and the world. Just as she did the same for you: treated you as a person, unique, with your own ways of doing things and views. She wasn't a pushover, she wasn't all smothery, she wasn't all sweetness and light, and she wasn't perfect. She was an ordinary human being who showed what ordinary human beings like all of us can aspire to in the way she lived her life and respected others. Especially since many parts of her life were quite hard and troubling, and I only know minor details.
And when you were talking with her, whether it was serious or silly, you had her entire attention. She entered wholeheartedly into things. And she was always polite and considerate, and very genuine. She never seemed to 'just tolerate' diversity, she accepted it and lived it as the natural way of things.
When I say polite, I don't mean that she didn't swear, or couldn't be rude or coarse. But she respected people. And in my experience, she commented on your behaviours, and she affirmed as much as she told you off. She wasn't fake about any of her comments. And she discussed rather than argued.
She was also the sort of person you could not see for a while, and meet as though you hadn't been apart. She was special.
So I will miss Aveline. But I'll remember her for her smile, and her consideration, her good company, and as an example of how to live the principles you believe in.
Requiescat in pace, Aveline.
...and as Dave Allen used to say, 'may your god go with you'.
And when you were talking with her, whether it was serious or silly, you had her entire attention. She entered wholeheartedly into things. And she was always polite and considerate, and very genuine. She never seemed to 'just tolerate' diversity, she accepted it and lived it as the natural way of things.
When I say polite, I don't mean that she didn't swear, or couldn't be rude or coarse. But she respected people. And in my experience, she commented on your behaviours, and she affirmed as much as she told you off. She wasn't fake about any of her comments. And she discussed rather than argued.
She was also the sort of person you could not see for a while, and meet as though you hadn't been apart. She was special.
So I will miss Aveline. But I'll remember her for her smile, and her consideration, her good company, and as an example of how to live the principles you believe in.
Requiescat in pace, Aveline.
...and as Dave Allen used to say, 'may your god go with you'.