Dear friends,
It is with great sorrow that I tell you our beloved PJ passed away peacefully at her home just before Christmas (December 21, 2016) – on the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, which was so very appropriate. For those of you who had the opportunity to know her, meet her, or see her at a book signing, I’m sure you’re sharing my sentiment: how could someone with such spirit and exuberance and passion for life leave us, and so young? She was only seventy, but she put up such a brave fight and her strength, grace, and courage will forever be an inspiration to me.
PJ was a very private person for a public figure, but the truth is she had been struggling for a very long time with severe heart failure and outlived her prognosis by several years. She was a fierce warrior, but a time comes when even the fiercest of warriors must lay down their arms, and it was her time. It was her choice, her decision. She died on her own terms. After a bad fall in November and a month of hospitalization, she expressed her wish to go off the many medications that were keeping her alive but also making her daily life miserable and come home for hospice. In the days since her passing, I am constantly reminded of her favorite poem, Invictus. The last two lines are: I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. She revered those lines, she lived by them, and she died by them.
I am amazed at how strongly her spirit remains here on Earth, even though her corporeal form no longer does. She is still very much alive through our work together, wonderful memories, and the gift of laughter she gave so many.
PJ Tracy and the Monkeewrench gang are also alive and well, and they live in my heart and soul and mind. The voice of PJ Tracy was never my voice or PJ’s voice, but our voice, one we created together. It was and is our own special language and we were both fluent, so I continue the legacy in her honor. NOTHING STAY BURIED, which will be released August 1st, 2017 is dedicated to her and there is much more to come.
