A Tribute To Ugadog99 on her sudden passing

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>The world lost a beautiful soul today. She was a single mother of two college age girls. She lost her husband to a car accident when her girls were very young. The circumstances of her death were bizarre and tragic. In my grief over the events, I felt God calling me to write something about her and the sudden events that led to her passing. I am not exactly sure what God had in mind but I hope in writing this that I honor her life in some small way and that I can provide a reminder that life is precious and to please cherish every moment. </p>

<p>I met Ugadog99 on this site. We bonded over our common experience. We both had children passionate about theater. Mine wanted to be on the stage and hers wanted to do everything behind the stage (lighting, makeup, costuming, set design, props, etc.) Like my daughter she’d found high school a miserable experience and was so looking forward to being in a college programs where she could live, breathe and eat theater.</p>

<p>Ugadog99 was so proud of her daughter and there was no stone she wasn’t willing to turn over to help her girl get into the college of her dreams. In the end, both our kids got into very good programs. I was so happy for Ugadog99. I had started posting on college confidential to get info about colleges for my daughter but I had gotten so much more out of it. Ugadog99’s and her daughter’s story had touched me as did the stories of other theater parents I had grown close to. </p>

<p>Late last Spring after all the college decisions were in, several parents formed a secret facebook page to continue our connections. The group consisted of twenty-five theater Moms and three of us theater Dads. It is hard to explain what happened but we became very close in such a short period of time. We shared our lives and became connected as family. Some of us met at various places over the country but mostly the connection was just through facebook. I grew to know so much more about Ugadog99. She was a huge college football fan, a Georgia Bulldog through and through. She hated not finding her sweet tea when forced to travel North. She loved everything Disney. She was drawn to what she called the magic of all the little things about Disney. After putting her girls through college, her dream was to quit her teaching job and work at Disney and I suppose retire nearby what she liked to call her “happy” place. </p>

<p>On a family vacation to Disney last summer, we made plans to meet for dinner when we were going to be there the same time. The plans got messed up for various reasons but we did end up meeting for all of about twenty minutes and I have a great picture with the two of us and our two theater girls.</p>

<p>Fast forward to this Fall. Our two girls are absolutely in heaven with their college experiences. We talk college football after every weekend and there was lots to talk about especially with a very up and down Georgia season including the bizarre game against Auburn. One day around early November after she’s been actively talking to everyone in our group we learn she’s suddenly in the hospital sedated, with pneumonia, and on a ventilator and a kidney machine. ***? Turns out she caught the flu, which turned to pneumonia. She had an adverse reaction to the drug she received to fight the pneumonia and it shut down her kidneys. This led to a long and scary stretch where her survival was touch and go. But slowly, and I mean very slowly Ugadog99 started to improve. Her daughter returned to college. Yesterday we learned she was being moved out of intensive care into rehab though the rehab would take till the end of February given what her body had been through. </p>

<p>Early this afternoon her daughter posted an eerie picture of an empty terminal but her message could not have been more upbeat – she said that she had never been so happy to be headed home. The poor kid had survived weeks of touch and go and was headed home to be with her Mom who was (she thought) finally recovering. I do not know the details of whether she made it home before her mother passed. But some time a few hours after her post her mother’s body crashed and she passed away.</p>

<p>I am still having a great deal of difficulty processing this. Healthy. Catch the flu. Almost die. Move to rehab. Pass away. She leaves two college girls (the older is a Senior) without father or mother. The youngest is in a small college with a great support system so I’m praying this can work out. She also has twenty eight additional stand-in parents now through our facebook group. Life is precious and it can go just like that. As one of the Moms in our group said, Ugadog99 is somewhere up on the Peter Pan ride in the sky. God bless. You will be missed.</p>

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<p>ActingDad, a beautiful tribute.</p>

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<p>Thank you Actingdad for posting this review of Ugadog99 and what she has meant to us. I am a very private person and do not like to post on forums anything personal. Reading Ugadog99’s dedication to her daughter’s passion for theatre and her dedication for helping her daughter find her just right program drew me in like nothing else has and kept me lurking to find out what was going on in her journey and helped me formulate how I could best help my daughter in her search for a theatre program. I felt more comfortable posting because of Ugadog99 and then made such profound connections with her and others from this forum. We exchanged some supportive pms and became close in our facebook group. Ugadog99 had a special journey here on CC and now her daughter is thriving so well in her college program where she has found a very special family. Ugadog99 will be sorely missed.</p>

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<p>What a touching tribute, ActingDad. I am sorry I never got to connect with this wonderful soul, but am sure she is guiding her kids from heaven or whatever she calls the next place she is in, surely on the greatest Peter Pan ride there is!</p>

<p>Life is surely strange–how we can be healthy and hopeful and suddenly catch an infection that turns deadlier than expected and then we are gone. </p>

<p>Best wishes to the children and all whose lives were touched by this loving woman.</p>

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<p>Thank you, ActingDad. Ugadog touched our lives in many ways, she was a fierce mama who took great pride in her girls, was a devoted teacher and a dear friend. It breaks my heart, literally, to have to use the word “was” to describe this dear woman. She was one of the first CC moms I met while going through auditions and she kept me laughing and she believed in my child as much as she believed in hers.</p>

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<p>I never got close to Ugadog, as you did, Acting Dad, but I identified with her high hopes for her daughter, and I liked the wholeheartedness with which she seemed to do everything. This is a real tragedy. My heart goes out to her girls.</p>

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<p>I am saddened to read this terrible news. I didn’t know ugadog personally, but had read her many posts on CC and how dedicated she was to this process with her daughter. What a very tragic thing to happen. It is heartbreaking for her two daughters. </p>

<p>I am also in a private Facebook group of parents of theater kids who mostly met here on CC (different group than your group) and a parent in our group suddenly died last week too. The parents are rallying around and will be donating to the son who is about to graduate his BFA program and move to NYC. </p>

<p>My thoughts go out to all who knew ugadog and especially to her girls. Thank you ActingDad for sharing about this and for the lovely tribute you wrote. So very sorry.</p>

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<p>how sad and thanks for this tribute. So many things happen that we don’t understand :(</p>

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<p>Thank you, ActingDad, for putting our feelings into beautiful words.</p>

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<p>That is a very beautiful tribute, Actingdad. My heart is breaking. Life is a mystery.</p>

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<p>This is a beautiful tribute. My heart goes out to her girls who I’m sure will be guided by their mother’s spirit and all that she has instilled in them and will be very successful.</p>

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<p>Thank you, actingdad for this. It is very sad news and I hope that her girls have a good support system nearby. I can’t imagine how difficult this is going to be for them.</p>

<p>This is such a reminder of what a wonderful community we have here on CC. The forum brings us together from our distant hometowns and even though we may not all know each other in real life, we have a sense of community and friendship in the commonalities that we share. We can rejoice in the successes of each others’ kids and we can mourn such a sad loss as this one, together.</p>

<p>A CC friend and I were talking recently about a member from several years ago who participated here when his son was going through the admissions process. He was going through treatment for cancer, although he made only oblique references to it at the time, and he passed away in the spring of that year. My CC friend (who I know outside the forum) had a mutual friend with this dad and apparently his son has graduated and is doing very well. I hope that one of you who knew UGAdog99 will be able to bring us similar good news in a few years time.</p>

<p>R.I.P.</p>

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<p>I’m so sorry. I also remember UGAdog99, though I didn’t know her well, as a warm and wonderful presence on this board. All thoughts and prayers to her family.</p>

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<p>Ugadog99 was a wonderful person who I was lucky enough to meet briefly with her awesome D last audition season. My heart is heavy after hearing this news, but I am so thankful for this wonderful tribute. Thank you, actingdad.</p>

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<p>Ugadog99’s daughter is a strong girl from a very loving family and has been doing very well at college. She and her sister have a lot of support, both locally and via a far-flung network of her mom’s friends. I also hope fervently that these two girls find their way safely through this frightening passage. People are going to be there for them.</p>

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<p>Thank you Actingdad for the beautiful tribute. I felt such a warm connection to Ugadog, even though I never had the pleasure to meet her in person. I feel so saddened by this and my prayers and thoughts are now with her 2 beautiful daughters.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the beautiful post. I never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but we messaged quite a bit as her D was going through the application process. She was always positive and upbeat, supportive of others, and so very happy that her D was getting to pursue her dreams. May her beautiful spirit continue to live on in her daughters.</p>

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<p>My deepest condolences to the girls who lost their dear mother. I hope they will have support in these very difficult time. I also hope their mom will be watching them from heaven and guarding them as she did here, on earth.</p>

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<p>I’m very sorry for Ugadog’s daughters’ loss. And, very sorry for loss her CC friends are feeling. What sad news.</p>

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<p>What a beautiful tribute in a terrible circumstance… scary situation, and just so sorry for the friends and family she left.</p>