Finding Love on the Internet

Vonnie Purvis was a Rock Star in the home health industry.  I didn’t know her well on a personal level but those that did held her close to their hearts.  She was one of a handful of elite coders for whom coding just made sense.  She was very generous with her expertise on social media and listservs and I’m certain she reduced the stress of many new coders when she was able to explain complicated coding sequences.

That’s nice and all but next year we’ll have different codes and many of you will move on to different sectors of the healthcare industry.  The real difference that Vonnie made in our world had nothing to do with coding even though that is how many of us came to know her.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been checking FaceBook for updates on Vonnie’s condition.  The sheer number of people who loved her and prayed for her is mind boggling.  Of course, there were home health employees but also her family, friends and church members who worshiped with her.  Vonnie didn’t just take time out of her day to be a good mother, daughter, sister and friend.  That’s just who she was twenty four hours a day.

Her brother posted on the tribute wall on her online obituary.  You can read the full version here but for me, it struck me as so perfectly sweet that her big brother remembers protecting her.  That must have been 50 years ago.  He remembers how she thought he walked on water and the revivals they shared.  They talked like they owned the world.

According to her brother, she hugged and kissed on anyone who would let her and spoke out for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.  

Maybe the only thing about Vonnie that was controversial was her pure, unadulterated love of the Dallas Cowboys.  If I had known her better, I would have turned her into a Saints fan.

People talk of finding love on the internet.  Anyone who relied upon Vonnie for coding advice, and the general support offered unconditionally found her love.  It isn’t the romantic kind of love that makes for juicy novels for the romance reading crew but it was love straight from Vonnie’s heart.

So, we lost someone important to us but if we are careful, we will not ever lose the love and kindness available to all who knew her even if just in passing. When life gets difficult, Be like Vonnie. When life is easy, be like Vonnie.