Sad news
Yesterday, it came to my attention via just_ann_now, that one of my first online friends from the LotR fandom, windswept1, had passed away.
This saddened me and affected me more than I expect, especially considering that we hadn't been in touch for a long time noe, me with RL taking over in many aspects, and her hers, no doubt.
She, and a few other online friends I met through HASA/LotR fandom back in 2003, meant a lot to me, more than they probably knew and possibly more that I could ever express. Back then I was lost. I didn't know who I was. I was stuck in a job I hated, and I had little interest in life in general back then, due to a series of unpleasant events. And then fan fiction came into my life, and those few precious people, and suddenly I knew who I was, and who I wanted to be: a writer. No matter what kind of shitty day I had at work, it didn't matter, because that person wasn't me. The real me would come to life when I'd go home and turn on the PC, back in those dial-up days, and chat and read and write.
Life moves on, and so we did, all of us. And, sooner or later, it ends. But what remains a fixed point in time, one that no death or time can take away, was the change those precious people brought to another's life.
Sleep well, my friend. You will be missed.
This saddened me and affected me more than I expect, especially considering that we hadn't been in touch for a long time noe, me with RL taking over in many aspects, and her hers, no doubt.
She, and a few other online friends I met through HASA/LotR fandom back in 2003, meant a lot to me, more than they probably knew and possibly more that I could ever express. Back then I was lost. I didn't know who I was. I was stuck in a job I hated, and I had little interest in life in general back then, due to a series of unpleasant events. And then fan fiction came into my life, and those few precious people, and suddenly I knew who I was, and who I wanted to be: a writer. No matter what kind of shitty day I had at work, it didn't matter, because that person wasn't me. The real me would come to life when I'd go home and turn on the PC, back in those dial-up days, and chat and read and write.
Life moves on, and so we did, all of us. And, sooner or later, it ends. But what remains a fixed point in time, one that no death or time can take away, was the change those precious people brought to another's life.
Sleep well, my friend. You will be missed.