She isn’t quite gone yet, so I couldn’t bring myself to put it in the headline. And this is isn’t so much about her as it is about you, dear reader. Yes, you. As a reader of my blog, apparently that makes you a social media type, and this is a story about social media.

My sweetie, The Scoot (as he is generally known on my blog), has a gramma, and she hasn’t been doing well. She was diagnosed with cancer and moved into his mom’s house earlier this year. Of late her condition has been declining, and she was in the hospital for awhile and now is in what the brochure describes as an end-of-life facility in Beaverton. Yesterday afternoon about 2pm I got a call that NOW is not the end, but you can probably see it from here. So I hopped in the car and hauled off to Beaverton. It was looking like I’d need to head back home before anyone else did, so to find out the best time to go, I asked Twitter and was told don’t bother till at least 6:30 or even 7. So I figured I was there for the evening and told Twitter that too. Here’s what happened*:

@kmcdade said “Oh, man. I’m so sorry.”
@ahockley said “I know it’s been hard lately. Sending positive thoughts towards you and your family.”
@drnormal said “Our thoughts are with you. <<hugs>>”
@turoczy said “Hang in there. Thinking of you.
@DeborahBeatty said “my thoughts are with you both.”
@mlpayne said “It is tough to watch a grandparent near the end. Praying for you guys!”
@chavtasticjinx said “*hug* to both of you”
@richburroughs said “:( Sorry Kelly, take care.”
@linuxaid said “hope all goes as well as it can tonight.”
@MeaganKate said “Sending good thoughts!”
@lawduck said “RT @MeaganKate: @verso Sending good thoughts! +1 – Big hugs.”
@chickieleighc said “You guys are in my heart tonight!”
@morganpdx said “<hugs>.  And then again.”
@jimdittmer said “I believe we’re all with you now…”
@kidmanproject said “Oh, Kelly, I’m so sorry to hear that. My best wishes to you all.”
@gwalter said “I’m sorry to hear about @pdxscott’s gramma. They are so precious to us.”
@dougcoleman said “@colemangirl & I send our *big hugs* and *positive vibes* your way.”
@yuetsu said “I’ve been through this with my mom, my dad & close friends. never easy. but good you’re there for her.
@Locket2You said “I’ll be thinking of you and your family tonight….”
@aaronjorbin said “I hope everything works out for the best #fingerscrossedforyou”
@QueenOChaos said “just read through; sorry to see whats happening. will keep you guys in my prayers.”
@KatrinaWheeler said “sorry to hear. Losing grandparents is really hard.”
@kathymcc said “I am so sorry.”
@ama23 said “So sorry to you all Kelly. Thoughts with you.”
@DixwellStillman said “Dixwell Stillman hopes @verso is doing OK. Best wishes to you and @pdxscott.”

These people listed above include: A County Commissioner’s wife, a jewelry designer, a contributor to ReadWriteWeb, former coworkers, friends, and a whole stack of people whom I have never even met. But because I have followed them on Twitter and interacted with them on Twitter, I got messages of support and love. And some of those people are in England, the eastern US, and I even got a hug sent via text from a friend in Sydney Australia, so I got love from all over the world. 140 characters at a time.

I know some people would find this weird, and I know some people already do think it’s odd or crazy or whatever. But last night when I was sitting in a room with a dying woman and a bunch of in-laws and waiting, I reached out to my own community and got back an astonishing amount of love and care. I just read a blog post written by another of my Twitter friends, and to put it in those terms: Last night Twitter was my baking soda. And it didn’t take any of those people very long at all to send me those little notes, but since they were thinking of me for just those couple of minutes, I was very touched. Even recounting it now, I’m going to need you to look over there for a minute. I have something in my eye.

* This is an exercise in concentration on something good that happened in the midst of an awful lot of bad and sad. I am only doing this to help cheer myself up. Thank you for reading all the way to the little tiny text at the end.