Gillipaw

We are so very sad and shocked to hear of the sudden passing of our dear friend and fellow blipper, Gillipaw. We met only once physically, a memorable lunch in the Art Deco marvel that is Roganos, off Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. We had waited a long time for that meeting but it confirmed what we knew through our blip contact, that we were friends, indeed.

Our friendship started just over eight years ago on the 16th of February 2010, when she blipped a shot of the cloisters of Paisley Abbey in my home town to mark her first visit there. Synchronistically, that was on my 50th birthday. We later discovered that Gillipaw’s very close friend, E, was the girl I had taken to the Primary Seven school dance at Paisley Grammar School!

Gillipaw and I were mutual followers and ever-present commentators in each other’s journal. She was full of life and multi-talented which included being a fine photographer who put thoughtful effort and skill into her finished shots - her shots of red sandstone tenements in her home city make a fine collection. She was also one of the most sensitive and understanding blippers, demonstrating deep empathy and offering just the right reflection or kind word at the right moment.

Open-minded, adventurous and cheery she was a loving daughter to the parents she cherished and a pillar of strength to her own family in sickness and in health, appreciating the support and encouragement many of us gave her, here and behind the scenes.

We really cannot believe she is gone and can only imagine the terrible feelings of loss and grief all her family must be experiencing, including the torment for some of having to travel home from the other side of the world for her funeral. It will be small comfort now, but one that will grow in time for them to have her view on the world and the fullest expression of her life and love captured for all time here on these pages.

We had been so looking forward to welcoming Gillipaw and her husband to stay with us for eight days next month in Barcelona, a long anticipated visit to a city which she had a great desire to see. Only last week I was sending emails with links to all the places she needed to buy tickets for in advance, including the Sagrada Familia - we never thought for a moment that, in her deep faith, she would now be with the Holy Family and her dear parents and sister-in-law in Heaven. We do so pray that they are reunited.

I took my blip today at The K Club Hotel in County Kildare in Ireland shortly before delivering a session on coaching to a group of fifty top executives from the Island of Ireland. I usually get nervous but as I viewed this parkland shot and thought of how Gillipaw so loved her parks, I decided the best way I could honour her memory was to rise about my nerves and go in appreciating the fact that I was alive at all and, more importantly, inspired to live it to the full by the fine example of Gillipaw.


"And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly, and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."

(Micah 6:8)


Paisley Abbey

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/477700