Sabrina Dent: Freelance web designer, developer and internet marketer living in Cork, Ireland with one dog and a husband in no particular order.
Thoughts on the Passing of Debbie Metrustry
I often joke that Twitter is my only source of news these days, but there is some news I’m simply unprepared to hear. I was absolutely horrified today to learn of the death of Debbie Metrustry, known up and down the Irish internet as @debbiemet.
In our first interactions, I didn’t know her last name was Metrustry and thus the source of her username. In my mental shorthand for people, she was Debbie Well Met, because absolutely everyone who had the pleasure of meeting her loved her. I’m not kidding about that. I know people say it all the time of those who have passed on, but in the snarky, gossipy, tight-knit world that is the Irish internet, I don’t know a single person who didn’t spontaneously smile and have a good word to offer whenever her name was mentioned.
Death is a cheater, but in her case seems particularly perverse. Debbie was young; sure, there was the occasional complaint about arthritic bones, but she was overflowing with enthusiasm and purpose. We all give lip service to the idea that “you only have one life” but Debbie had, in the last two years, really grabbed hold of that reality and made drastic changes to turn her life into what she wanted it to be. She was working through a career transition, was newly dedicating herself to running, she had started a major move from Dublin, and she’d just bought land for her dream eco-house in Tipperary.
In many regards, she was just (re)starting her life; it seems cruel beyond belief that she will not live out the dreams she was building while the rest of us are left here, free to carry on in our own lives with efforts that seem so weak compared to her heroic mountain moving.
I was looking forward to seeing her again in three weeks, and at the moment I still cannot believe I will not. I’m quite sure we’re scheduled for lunch in March and quite sure she’ll pop up in my Twitter DMs any moment now. Anything else is incomprehensible; when she’s not there, I know I will think of her as just away, dancing until dawn.
I have called the funeral home but there is still not a date, time, or specific information about services for her and details are below. Regardless of those arrangements, I’ve checked in with a few mutual friends and there will be a BTW (Blogger, Twitter, Whatever) meetup in her honour, most likely on the day of her services. I’ll post more information when it’s available but for the moment, like so many others, I simply cannot believe we’re making plans around the funeral of this woman.
Because really, she’s supposed to be here, dancing into her future.
Funeral Arrangements:
Viewings: Sunday and Monday until 8 PM
Kirwans, 21-23 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3 [map]
Service: Tuesday, 16 February, 2010 at 2 PM
Glasnevin Crematorium Chapel [map]
Burial immediately following
BTW Meetup:
Tuesday, 16 February 5 PM onwards
Le Cirk, 32 Dame Street [web]
Buses from Glasnevin: 140 [map]
Please RSVP at BTW [here] or add your name here.
12 Feb 2010
| In: Domesticities | Tags:@debbiemet, Debbie Metrustry
Lovely post Sabrina. I never got to meet Debbie but was a happy follower of hers on Twitter, she was one of my first Twitter friends and I will miss her tweets greatly. Really hope I can make the BTW & have a drink in her honour, please keep us posted on any arrangements you find out.
12.02.2010, 4:32 pmGreat tribute Sabrina.
12.02.2010, 4:36 pmI knew her by her blog, but am so sad not to have known her better, and more personally. My thoughts are with her family and friends.
12.02.2010, 4:44 pmBased on all the comments on Twitter and your thoughts here Sabrina, am feeling the sadness for someone that I never met .. may there be a better place and may she be there.
12.02.2010, 4:46 pm[...] February 2010 I got the news today that Debbie has passed away. Shocked, stunned, saddened… apart from all of the many beautiful charachteristics – [...]
12.02.2010, 6:08 pmReally nicely written, Sabrina. Thanks for a beautiful tribute and for saying what so many of us are feeling at the moment. I’m still in a state of shock. Thank you for your words, because at the moment I have none.
12.02.2010, 7:05 pmThe good die young. Thank you Sabrina for the tribute. Debbie wanted to do lunch or coffee with me at Christmas but I was not in Dublin long enough. We should never put friends off, always try to make the time. May pain be over.
12.02.2010, 9:00 pmHi all, My name is Ginny and I have been friends with Debbie since she came to Dublin – about 30 years ago. It is lovely to hear such lovely things about my dear friend. Debbie was a most creative person, wonderful at design, both indoors and gardening, IT music, and life. She was a wonderful singer – we did a duet in college a very long time a go~She was a very talented woman and was looking forward to moving to the eco village in ~Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary in the near future- Her funeral is on Tuesday at 2pm in Glasnevin Crematorium – May she rest in peace. My first time on twitter, Debbie managed to drag us old fogeys onto new technology
14.02.2010, 12:53 amGinny
I think all our thoughts go out to Simon at this time. Thank you for these wonderful words about Debbie.
14.02.2010, 12:59 amI’m honoured that Debbie’s friends from “the real world” have chosen to comment on this post; thank you.
I’ve actually gotten emails late tonight with two different sets of information regarding her funeral arrangements. Because I do not want to do the wrong thing, I am planning to check with both funeral homes in the morning, and then update this post with the exact details.
Thank you so much for being in touch, and my condolences to you.
The post has been updated with the details given to me by the funeral home this morning. I look forward to seeing anyone who would like to come at the BTW; unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make the service.
[...] Sabrina Dent and others contacted me to arrange a Blogger-Twitter-Whatever (BTW) meetup for next Tuesday in honor of Debbie Metrustry who passed [...]
14.02.2010, 4:54 pmI knew Debbie in another net forum: the BBC messageboard for fans of the radio drama, The Archers. I met her a few times IRL, and am shocked by her untimely far-too-early death.
Debbie was involved in so much: cat rescue, gardening and eco-systems, and the care of women who needed refuge from violence.
Thanks for your Memorial here. And while I can’t be in Dublin tomorrow or Tuesday, there will be many of us raising a virtual glass in her memory.
14.02.2010, 11:10 pmI share in the thanks for your wonderful words about Debbie – my “twin” in so many ways (we shared our birth dates, our birthdays and so much more over 20 years).
It’s hard to share the pain with those we care about in Debbie’s immediate family if we are far away (London, Ontario) – thank you for providing another online avenue to enable us to feel connected.
15.02.2010, 9:24 am[...] Sabrina Dent [...]
23.02.2010, 5:11 pmI came across Debbie’s name on the RIAI website in connection to an architectural competition: I realised that I knew her many years ago when we worked together, and she enthusiastically helped me prepare for an (unsuccessful) singing audition for the RIAM. I’ve gone on to become very involved in choral singing myself, and am really saddened to find myself reminded of her like this, having ever seen her since I left Dublin many years ago. Life’s too short….
24.02.2010, 9:05 pmhi everyone…… it was debbies birthday yesterday and for as long as i loved her we shared or birthdays within days of each other. I keep thinking she’ll walk into my kitchen, put on her kneepads and be digging out in the garden… she is everywhere in bushes, trees, plants, flowers she planted for me when i was ill a few years ago. She made space for the birds to come and gather and sing their unique songs, she loved so much. Losing her after almost 30 years of friendship can never be true, for i see her in every leaf, colour and everytime i see the unjust and un needy cutting of trees. When i went to the funeral home with Fiona, our friend, it was raining heavily and as we drove in the gates i had to stop the car because right over the single story building was a huge rainbow!!!!…. Thankyou all for what you’ve written, i am moved beyond words!!
08.04.2010, 12:37 am