Internet Friends Who Are No More - Memory

Today I remember two friends who I never met in person but who enriched my life in many ways. It's the nature of our new tech-savvy world to interact with people in all lands and cultures without thinking twice about it. That's a luxury that didn't exist in my life until the mid-1990's, when I got a laptop computer and plugged into the internet for the first time. It was a VERY different world than what we take for granted today. 

Do you remember dial-up modems and chatting with other
people through a B/W screen on a BBS? Things were quite
a bit different then. 

In those days, we gathered together in small groups and chatted - exchanged tips, emails, and posted on Bulletin Boards. In those days we bonded over common traits and likes such as books, or art media, or ... beads. In the early days of beading there were congregation points - AOL's crafting boards had a very active beading group, many members of which I'm still in contact with today. There was a website named about-dot-com where "experts" answered questions and posted projects. The head of the beading board, Emily, would post a pattern, and if it was cute, I would get several customers over the next week wanting the purchase the supplies to make it. And there were writing boards - places for authors to post original works and fan-fiction works. I got into those a bit later, in the mid-2000's. 

Do you remember the early days of AOL? I recall this
specific splash screen circa 1998. 

Helen was a lovely person - even tempered, sweet-natured, with a desire to live life to the fullest. She had a heart filled with love, that ended up betraying her in the end since her Congestive Heart Failure cause her sudden death. Before that happened, however, her husband took her on a cruise. One of the shore events they signed up for was swimming with dolphins - she was so excited. After arriving at the oceanfront, Helen realized she had forgotten her swimsuit in her room on the ship. She went into the water in her shorts and t-shirt. She wasn't about to miss the experience of swimming with dolphins and her smile rivaled the gleam of the sun. She was dead within a year of the experience. 

Swimming with dolphins is actually harsh on these fabulous finned
wonders, but at that time it was still accepted behavior and to be
that close to an animal that she loved was the fulfillment of a dream
for Helen. 

Arthur, aka Fiondil, was a prolific author of fan-fiction in the Tolkien universe. I fell into his "War of the Valar" head-first, followed by "Elf Interrupted". He was a prolific author, very detail oriented, and extremely familiar with the source material. He and I messaged back and forth often enough that I considered him a friend and I was shocked when he passed suddenly. I still think of him often, and that means that in my mind, he is immortal because his name still echoes through the Halls of Darkness. 

By today, the Halls of Namo probably come closer to this
endless maze. 

So here's to you, my dear Helen and Fiondil. Today I celebrate the day of your deaths with a piece of chocolate cake in honor of Helen, and a raised glass tonight for Fiondil. Thank you for enriching my life, although we never actually met in person. 

It's Friday, so have a good one. It's negative 9 degrees out right now, and our high will be 3 degrees above. ACK! Time to seriously bundle up. I'll be back tomorrow unless I turn into a pillar of ice in the gym parking lot. Be safe, be relatively good, and be happy!