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I am writing this anonymously because I want you to hear "Her" and not me. You'll understand in a moment...
I know there was another death recently that may "overshadow" this one. This is not about that. This woman was a relative unknown. But she was important to me... and to many others whom I knew. She too touched lives.
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I got the email from her father Thursday morning. It was late in coming considering she died last month -- but the fact that he sent it at all means I meant something. After all, I had only been an SL friend. She'd left a contact list with my name on it apparently.
I brought her to the Dominion six months ago on a whim. I knew she was a fellow Domme. I had no idea then what she was facing in her real life. I only knew that she was my friend. We came to an auction together, and on another whim she bid -- and won -- a well-liked boy. There was just a little bit of grumbling since she was an unknown. I remember that. He fulfilled his auction duty well and he seemed to enjoy her company. It was shortly after that when she disappeared from SL.
In fact, it was just about a week after that auction that I had received her note. It said simply: "I won't be back. I love you. Keep your chin up."
It is strange. As I write this, I think about the people she touched. There was one young man I know: she helped him with career advice, filling out his applications and writing his resume. He now has a job in real life that he loves. There was the SL community she was part of which to which she devoted her time tirelessly. She was my friend too, and it was at a time in my life when I was suffering from my own heartaches. She never told me of hers. Instead she took my burdens on as if they were her own cross to bear, listening to me with an open heart and an open ear.
The email from her father said she fought valiantly. Cancer. For the last year. She'd told none of the rest of us. Only her family had known. She'd born the burden alone. She chose to bear our burdens also, as if her own was not heavy enough. I do not tell you who she is now, because I know she was a private person. She did not want anyone to know. Her grief was hers and hers alone. She'd said her goodbyes already.
I cried when I read the email. I do not cry often. It was not from sadness though. My tears sprang rather from a strange joy. She had made me part of her life.
I am... so grateful.
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