Zoe - surely it's never 7 years

Zoe and I were pen-pals of a sort, through this forum. And one paragraph of hers, describing the tiny mountain burgh of Benevento, was perfectly described and I saw the exact same thing the following year in our nearby ancestral village of Sant' Arsenio:

"For me, this was a very personal trip. I spent an inordinate and
perhaps impolite amount of time looking at the faces of people who
looked like me. Some of them looked back in the same way. I walked
down the street, overhearing conversations in the local dialect, and
understood every word. I remembered my father's voice, and
unconsciously took on his posture while walking, hands folded behind
my back. It's a good way to walk in a city where the wind blows almost
constantly."

The similarity to what I saw totally freaked me out!

Nigel, so kind of you to bring up our friend and her legacy. She was such a dear and we were privileged to meet her 3 times when we lived in Rome, including a couple of weeks where she was our house-and-cat sitter over the Christmas holidays.

May we all be remembered so kindly.

I always loved reading Zoe’s posts. Back then I was just a lurker and hadn’t posted anything myself yet, but Zoe was one whose posts I always looked forward to and savored.

Jay, the post from Zoe that you quoted from above was one that has stuck with me - I have thought about it often over the years. She captured that moment beautifully.

Nigel, thank you for posting this. I miss Zoe.

Zoe was such a special contributor to our forum group! I was corresponding with her about my first solo trip to Italy when she passed. I had a few questions about traveling solo since it would be different than having my husband with me on previous trips. She reassured me that “Italy wants to feed me” when I asked her about dining alone. : )

I do think of her occasionally while I am traveling on each solo trip in Italy since she liked the smaller cities, too. Priscilla shared several links to Zoe’s posts one year, and I enjoyed “hearing her voice” again through her advice.

Aww… Thanks for posting this Nigel.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 and a half years.

Zoe was such a dear and I’m so glad that we can still read, and re-read, her many trip reports and replies.

You’ll find her inspirational trip reports & other posts here:

• Remembeting Zoe…
• Remembering Zoe… Part II

I love Zoe’s reply on an old post:

The only must-sees are the places you feel you must see, so travel and
be happy wherever you go.
- Zoe (10/12/12)

We miss you Zoe…

I miss logging into RS in the morning and seeing this PM from Zoe:

"Coffee?"

We had many interesting, often hilarious chats over wake-up cups of joe! I'd hoped to link up with her sometime in Rome for an educational roam of her favorite churches; a wealth of knowledge, was Professor Zoe. Sadly, i'm reduced to lighting candles in memory here and there.

That was before I joined the forum, but it seems like I missed a great person.

And I think the moral of the comments on this and the linked thread is that you should remember to tell people you appreciate them while they are alive.