Thank you, Leslie.

Dec 11, 2006 at 11:06 PM
47 comments

I met Leslie Harpold six years ago when a large cardboard box showed up unexpectedly at my door. Inside was a large 32 gallon stainless steel trash can that I'd added to my Amazon wish list a few weeks before on a whim.

The gift note inside said (...and I'm paraphrasing) "I wanted to meet the sort of freak who'd put a 32 gallon stainless steel trash can on his wish list. —Leslie Harpold"

Today I got a phone call that Leslie had passed away.

In between those two events we spent a couple of great Thanksgivings together, we got to live in the same city for a few years, we got angry at each other a couple of times, as friends are prone to do, we gave each other design advice, and life advice, drank and ate together, went whale watching together, and she was a great friend to my son Henry.

Her annual Advent Calendar, the last one which she leaves unfinished, was a testament to her optimism for a better world, and a reminder that such a world was and IS within our reach.

As a designer I admired and respected her; as a friend I loved her and as a force of nature I feared her.

During her short amount of time with us she touched an incredible amount of lives and inspired others to live their lives as honestly and decently as she did. We're all better for having know her, and I'd like to thank her family for having shared her with us.

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beautiful.

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Very nice. I always wondered how your paths crossed.

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I remember that. I think I met you just before you received the trash can.

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Honest, raw & decent. A beauty.

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Very sad about Leslie. I never met her but I still receive referrals from her set of blog templates that she must have put together when the blogosphere was small enough to make me linkworthy. I sent her an email to thank her and she was very gracious in response. She'll be missed.

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I never knew Leslie, yet I always thought of her as the cool, older sister that we all looked up to. My thoughts go out to her family and friends.

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[speechless]

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This is so sad. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. Do you think it would it be possible for you, or someone else, to put some words on her Advent Calendar to help others understand why it's unfinished?

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You're good with words.

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Thanks for that wonderful memory, Mike. I think I'm gonna send someone a 32-gallon trash can today in her memory.

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Do you think it would it be possible for you, or someone else, to put some words on her Advent Calendar to help others understand why it's unfinished?

Great idea -- I wonder if it's possible to wrest out her account info from her hosting provider and domain registrar.

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This is a very moving thing you've written here, Mike.

It's very sad that Leslie is gone. She was one of the handful of people at the very start of this whole web fad who showed just how cool and interesting and engaging the medium could be.

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I knew her from the gne. Very sad indeed.

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I met her online through mutual acquaintances and consequently we were reciprocally added to Friends' Lists on Livejournal. She always came across as wise and funny to me, someone I had already admired for her design work. My favorite memory of her was when I used to have my iChat announce who came online to chat. My wife, in another room, heard "Leslie Harpold" as "Lovely Horrible." I immediately laughed when she told me, so I IM'd Leslie. She got a huge kick out of that. For the next few months, her LJ user nickname was "Miss Lovely Horrible."

Another favorite is when I was gong through some rough times with my confidence and my divorce, and she chatted me up and we talked about it. She made me feel that much better, mostly because she actually seemed to care. And considering she didn't owe me a second glance, that was huge to me.

I only knew her for a while, but she seemed so awesome that I was glad she would take the time to make one more friend... and that I got to know her that way. I wish there was something else to say.

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This is sad indeed. She was a class act and a good soul.

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Still reeling. Need to get together with people so we can eat, drink and bake.
She taught us what this is all about.

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What Yoz said. I'm still waiting for Leslie to walk in through the web's front door. She made the people who came into contact with her... better people. And that's something to celebrate even as we miss her so much.

.......................

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I am constantly amazed at the power of the Net and how it brings people together. I had crossed paths with her only a few random times and was a fan of both her writing and that wonderful advent calendar. Today in looking at all the tributes to her, I find myself with a deep (crying) sorrow for all of you who have such a loss in your lives with her passing.

I am really sorry to hear that. I did not know her, but her sense of humor seems to shine through what you have written about her.

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Thank you, Leslie.

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