Sunday, May 02, 2010

BLOG FRIENDS

There is always a blogger or two, who make a tangible and special impact.  Two blog friends I had with that extra 'something' have both died within a year or so of each other.  Like in life, it leaves a space, in this instance in my blogosphere. I genuinely do miss them and their very different ways of posting and commenting.  They added substance and diversion to the experience.  Interaction with them was always a joy, not always in agreement, but then that made for useful discussion and enlightenment.  In differing ways, we learned about one another and learned from each other.  There was a  wonderful dynamic.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

i always find it fascinating how much someone's personality shines through when simply reading the written word.

special friends stay in our hearts for the rest of our days and should always be cherished.

TG said...

And what you feel now will become "normal" in few decades, when blogs (and bloggers) reach a certain age. I'm a bit afraid of that, because the emotions and experiences online are becoming similar to the ones offline.

ZACL said...

Hello Ax,

Cyber contacts can mirror our daily lives in so many ways and add dimensions that would not be there.

Cherish...yes.

ZACL said...

Hi MKL,

The two people I miss represented both genders and were different age groups. One was quite young, the other, nearer my own age.

You are right about mirroring emotions but at what level. I am not clear in my own thoughts whether the emotions are entirely like those of people you see, hear, speak to, touch, hug and kiss. I am sad these two people have gone, their loss is mine too, as I have lost their written word and the character that comes through it.

zewt said...

sorry to hear about this...

ZACL said...

Thank you Zewt.

Anonymous said...

I really can empathise with your sentiments in this thoughtful, heartfelt post as I too have lost two blogs friends, one of whom I'm certain was mutual.
I have several blog friends that I now chat with on the phone, regularly email and send/receive cards and presents all of which is more than I do with most of my family and long standing friends!
Flighty xx

Vincent said...

I (and I'm not the only one) miss a blogger Jim Charles of Texas, who suddenly disappeared from view after deleting all his posts and leaving one final message entitled "Lots of things." It reads "I just worry about some one or two in particular, but love to all."

I could imagine he killed himself but keep a faint hope aflame, that he was sent to jail, and will be released some day to get in touch again. He was the most generous soul, generous in praise and empathy, encouraging everyone. He had learned Hebrew and was studying the Kabbalah. He thought of himself as a Jew but wasn't born one, and had some disagreements with certain factions of Jewish scholars. He had more major disagreements with one or two organisations, possibly including the US Military and one or two colleges and libraries. A few weeks before his disappearance he wrote to me about posts he had deleted: had I saved any, could I get them back? Thanks to some mysterious feature of Google reader, I still have 2063 of his posts cached. They are strange: not mad but obscure. He seems to be addressing his own demons sometimes.

Anyway I was able to send him all his deleted posts before his disappearance.

ZACL said...

Hello Mr F,

Yes, you are right, one blog friend was a mutual friend.

There is a wonderful archive for family in both of the blogs. I know one family has accessed the archive of their loved one. This aspect follows through a light hearted discussion I had with Adamantixx, (see my blogs list) recently on one of his posts.

I do have email contact with people who wanted to stay anonymously in contact with me yet no longer wanted to blog. I miss their posts and interaction too. I have the comfort of the alternative but different communication with them, they are not gone.

ZACL said...

Dear Vincent,

Thank you for your reply. I feel I want to know Jim Charles of Texas. I am sorry I never did.

Yours is a limbo disconnect. I can imagine it's not very satisfactory, there is no conclusion or resolution.

There is something you say which may be of particular assistance. I am currently hunting around my various forms of filing for a post that one of my two friends wrote and gave me permission to keep. the kindest thing I can say is, I mis-filed it. I have one more obvious place to try. The family would like a copy of this post to complete a scrap book. It does not appear to be in the archive of posts anymore. If I am not successful, may I ask your advice on retrieval techniques?

Thanks again.