November 2005

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On this day in 2001 I wrote an entry that remains a favorite of mine, about All Saints' Day. In it, I said that each of my saints left me the better for knowing them.

That's true of the people in my life who have joined the Church Triumphant this year, too. One of the most recent ones was a lady I knew through Non-Profit Agency #2, where she was a very active volunteer. She always had a kind word to say, and went about her life doing good works because she could. And knowing her, I suspect also because she couldn't not do good things. It would have gone against her nature.

I thought of her and of all the other fine people I've known today, because it's All Saints' Day, but also because I had a chance to do a good thing, and I did it. It's a small thing, but it made someone else happy and I'm glad I could do it. (Excuse back-pats, please.)

A few months ago I had a chance to buy the domain name that is my first and last names, with no middle initial (I own the one with my middle initial, too, and use it for some business and family things). The no-initial one had not been available when I first realized I would like to own my own name.

I hadn't been waiting for the no-initial one to be available, but I happened to go looking one evening just to see. When I saw that it was available, I bought it. I didn't have specific plans in mind, I just wanted it.

Today I got an e-mail message from the domain's prior owner. She said she had no idea the registration had lapsed, and wondered if I would consider selling it back to her. And I didn't have to think twice before saying yes, I would be happy to do that.

When I replied, I asked her to pay me slightly less than the prorated amount for the remaining months of my registration period. I also asked her to tell me what state she had been living in when she first registered it, so I could make sure she really was "the" person. As I told her, I had told my friends and cousins that I bought the one with my middle initial because the one without was owned by a woman in (her state, which I left blank).

She wrote back a few minutes later, to tell me that I had no idea how happy I had made her, and went on to describe a rather bad day that she'd had. She did give me the location information I had remembered, and said she would be happy to pay me for the whole registration (we're not talking large sums of money here), saying it was well worth it to her to have her domain back.

So it's all over but the transfer itself (I needed to read up on how to do that) and her payment, which I expect in the next few days. I am delighted to have been able to do something that made someone's day a little better. And I had the sense that all my saints were giving me attagirls for having remembered the life lessons I learned from them in the first place.