The Pastry Box Project is like a daily time capsule. Every opportunity I have to write reflects the day I wrote it. Many posts by past authors inspire me for months and years after their publish date. Today is a tricky day in my time capsule. I want to say something profound and important to commemorate #663399becca, the Twitter hashtag offering a memorial of sorts for Rebecca Meyer, Eric’s daughter. Next year, when our attention spans may have shifted to other things and we may have forgotten #663399becca, I’ll remember it like this: A Twitter hashtag trended for a daughter who died far too young. I’m sure many other daughters have been lost in similarly tragic circumstances, but this daughter moved so many people because her father gave so much to us, to help us make the web into what it is today. In some ways I owe my career to Eric. I’m sure many of us do. He’s one of the giants whose shoulders we stand upon.

#663399becca is a thing because Eric Meyer helped so many of us become who we are, whether he knew us or not. It’s our way of saying thanks.

Thank you, Eric. I’m so sorry for your loss. I don’t know you personally but I wish there was more I could do.

Actually, there is. Today I think I’ll send a few notes to friends thanking them — folks who I care about and whose shoulders I stand on. I don’t think I should wait for heartbreak to let them know.

The Meyer family requests charitable donations be made in Rebecca’s name to the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House or the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.