When it Rains, it Pours, literally and virtually

Have you ever had a really bad week full of really bad news? I know we all get those once in awhile, and this past week was my turn. It started when my mom informed me her cat 16-year old cat passed away. I felt bad for her because I knew what she was going through and although the cat hadn't been mine, I'd known him since he was a kitten. It also brought back the loss of my Floppy who will be gone two years this fall and whom was the both the inspiration for my book, "Cloudy Rainbow," and the pet memorial center I operate in Second Life.

The week continued with bad news. I learned a long-term patron at the library where I worked who was also a good friend had succumbed to the Cancer she was trying to fight. I had seen the woman less than a month ago. We had shared a smile and a hug. You just never know.

A few other less noteworthy things occurred both at work and at home that added to my rotten week, and then the week was topped off with a message from an online friend that both surprised and saddened me. I was surprised both by the message and my feelings about it. For the purposes of this blog piece, the circumstances don't matter. It just meant that my online correspondence with this person would change and possibly cease. Have others experienced this, I wondered? Have you ever really come to depend on the support and friendship of someone you've never met but someone you email or chat with on a regular basis over the Internet? I imagine this occurs occasionally if not commonly as our society has become so reliant on computers and more people are still lonely even if they have real life friends and family.

In my book, "Cloudy Rainbow," my main character also becomes involved with someone she meets online in a virtual world who she later learns is someone who is actually part of her real life. In a turnabout, the feelings she develops with this person online transfer to her real life relaltionship with him. When I wrote this, I wasn't basing this on any of my own experiences, even though many other events in the book are fictionalized fact. But now that this has happened to me, in a different yet similar way, I can relate. Another acquaintance I have in Second Life recently wrote a column for RezLibris, the library magazine I co-publish, saying that people often reveal more of themselves online and can become as close if not closer than in real life because they are more transparent, having only their words to share with one another. I had never thought about this, but I now see it is very true.

So while I mourn for my mom's cat and a library patron friend, I also mourn the friendship of someone I'd never met in person but whose friendship meant a great deal to me.

When it rains, it pours, literally and virtually. I hope next week is better.