no one to miss me when i'm gone

all quite suddenly, i disappeared from online.  it's been 10 days.  11 if you count today.  it wasn't a planned absence.  nothing i could announce would be happening.  my hard drive crashed and died.  i lost everything ~ all my photos.  it was  over in a heartbeat.

it mimicked my husband's death.  one minute he was smiling, getting into bed.  we were cuddling, kissing, saying good-night.  the next he seized, and then he died.  i lost everything ~ my breath, my friend, my companion, my lover.  it was also over in a heartbeat.

the next day my cell phone died.  it was very sudden and frightened me.  i tried to find a pay phone.  did you know that pay phones are almost a thing of the past?  a stranger saw my distress and offered their cell phone for me to call her.  so for 10 days i used the phone at work to speak to her real quick before i left work.  no long conversations.  i got my new cell in the mail from my son yesterday.  i got it charged up and called her last night at 10 PM.  we talked for an hour.  but my cell phone dying?  so sudden.  so shocking.  it was over in a heartbeat.

in all 3 cases i was left without a voice.  after my Dragon died, i thought i had found a voice that would be heard by writing here, and leaving photos and comments on Facebook.  i thought i left enough of an impression that people looked for me; in fact, would comment or email if i disappeared.  that did not happen.  no one asked.  no one left a comment wondering about me except one woman but it took me being absent for 8 days.  if these were physical friends, and i was a childless widow, and it was me who had died rather than my computer, i would hate to think how long it would take for someone to find my body.  it is a little depressing to realize i would not be missed.  losing the ability to really talk with my daughter was harrowing.  we missed each other so much.  she would call me at work and we tried to talk a bit.  i'd call her, but we were both at work and busy.  we could not talk like we always have.

i have worked so hard to establish friendships.  i have done and given of myself so much.  i am intelligent.  i am empathic.  i am always there for others, doing whatever i can.  but it has not worked out, or been enough.  i have ended up being told i fall short.  one woman told me i did not have enough money to be a friend to her.  well, i am working very hard and i have a bit of extra money to go to lunch or to a movie.  i have a car, too.  no one has to come pick me up.  but these women are all gone.

the people i have "met" online, are just that; online.  if i disappeared it wouldn't impact their lives not one whit.  i am nothing but words on a computer screen.  and my words mean nothing.  which is sad since i choose them so carefully.

i miss having a friend.  i miss the idea of one.  the utopia friend ~ one who notices me and wants to listen to me, have tea with me, go shopping with me, laugh with me, go to the movies with me, tell me her secret thoughts, who would lean on me as i could lean on her; someone who would care if i suddenly wasn't there.  someone who "if i was never there again, would never be the same."  someone who would call my daughter, who had her number to call and check on me, on things.  someone who would come to my funeral.

i was developing a friendship with a widow but her son is now very sick and she needs to be with him.  i miss her and worry for her.  i hope she is okay, and that her son is improving.  but my last email went unanswered and i have tried to call.  of course, that was 10 days ago before everything died.  i will try again now that i have electronics back.

i had a friend at church, who died.  i miss her and i sit alone at church right now.

i was working on a friendship with a widow, but it was more she was leaning on me.  i kept encouraging her to speak to a professional but she refused.  she committed suicide just before Christmas and it made me feel like i failed her.  at her funeral, her son told me he felt the same way.  it was a miserable experience and one i still grieve over, and second guess everything about.

with the death of my computer i lost contact with a world i had believed noticed me.  i lived under the delusion that people looked for me as much as i looked for them.  when i got my rebuilt computer back, i found only that one comment on Wednesday, but nothing else.  i have left no ripples.  i have had no impact at all.  my words, my photos of Bunny, my photos of my tiny little corner of the world mean nothing to anyone.  it has made me realize that the friends i had thought i had made on the other side of my computer screen have lives with their own friends who are real in the physical sense.  they go places, take trips, have large families; they live more important lives than i do.  they impact the world in a huge way and me, a Bunny face onscreen?  i am only the Bunny Lady who gives awesome parties at work, and who gives touching, funny, meaningful heart ceremonies.  the Bunny Lady is only that.  i make one moment in time pretty good.  but there is no lasting impression.  yeah, people come back to find me there, but if i never show up again, they won't miss me.

this is a realization that makes me want to find a friend.  i cannot force it though.  it has to just be the right time for it.  a woman will meet me and we will have something in common.  she will accept that i am fairly poor.  i can pay my bills but i walk on eggshells when it comes to money.  she won't ask me to make a bunch of stuff for her for free.  she will simply want to hang out with me.  we will talk about our husbands.  she doesn't have to be a widow.  she can be anything.  we just need to connect and care about what happens to each other.  all i want is a friend.

someone to notice when i'm gone.