I Love My Friends

I love my friends

I have a virtual family that lives inside my computer. I’ve known them for quite a few years and we’re often bouncing around the virtual walls and I have come to call them dear friends. They share snappy images of their treasured children, their beloved pets, their charming homes, their snow-laden paths, and their flower-filled gardens; they even get personal and share their intimate life of ups and downs.

Some of these friends are recent acquaintances while others are years long writing friends. Some are battling illness while others are rejoicing in health, others have parents or children that have passed, and others have parents/friends/family in the hospital. Many seek prayer, some seek peace and more times than not they just want to share their life with the world or a small portion of the world anyway. All in all they have become my virtual spiritual family whom I love dearly, enough to trust and give my physical address.

Some of my friends though, I suspect of being possessed by spybots. I haven’t been a part of the virtual world for too long but I learned quickly what spybots were, in essence making me set moderating comments here on my blog because they inundated the comment section with spam, not the kind you eat either.

Some of these suspected spybots over on facebook rarely have an actual thought. They smear the walls with other people’s pets, artistic homes and fatty food, while washing their mouth out with dirty laundry by posting anything and everything political that runs across their screen. These droids fill the airwaves with what they THINK we want to hear and see. Following the doo-doo wherever it may lead. It’s a conspiracy, man!

The spybot villains enlisted me also, I was thinking maybe that is how people really are supposed to portray themselves in the social media world, but it came back to bite me and I made certainly clear that I wanted no part in their shenanigans, and that’s that!

In my spirit-filled life-altering bout of change I see things differently now. I can see also that some of my compadres have seen the light too and have altered their change so that we can all illuminate the world together! BooYa!

I do have some of the wackiest, weirdest, strangest, lovable, fun-loving, God-fearing, compassionate and most awesome friends on the net and I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world… okay maybe one. No, seriously, I love them all dearly! I just had to put that out there in case they don’t already know that they change my world and make it feel right. They’re the bubblewrap that puts a pop in my day! Just sayin’.

Death Is Never Easy

Pss. 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Death is never easy…

Death is never easy when it hits close to home. I mean, it’s hard any time when we see death surrounding us on the battlefield called earth. People dying everywhere your heart just aches.

Then someone like an online friend dies and though you never knew the person physically, you still feel like something is missing from your spirit. A part of your heart has a burn hole in it. Then a friend loses a mother or a father or sadly both parents the hole begins to grow. Online friends become your family over years and years of communication. They become a part of your everyday life, so to speak.

Now when a family member from your bloodline passes away, someone who you actually grew up with in your physical world, shared Christmas’ with and passed on the road from child to adult, the sting is even harder.

Yesterday, the 25^th, my aunt passed away. She was a jolly soul, tall with graying hair, always a   bright smile and a laugh to share. A little on the heavy side but she never let that hinder her from having a good life, attending church or being a social butterfly always fluttering around from place to place.

I can’t remember exactly when they found a tumor but I know she wanted to have back surgery and it was discovered. They had to remove the tumor before cutting into her back. They discovered the tumor, removed and chemo-therapy ensued. They found another tumor and more chemo, another then the same thing over and over for the past year.

She began losing the weight as the cancer was eating her away. That did not stop her smiles. When she had the strength she’d continue doing what she did. Attended church, visited with her grandchildren, hugged her children, and enjoyed the community of Locust Point and what bit of vibrancy that was left in her.

I remember in my younger years she always called me Noni. She had told me of how when I was really little just learning to speak, I had called her Aunt Nerl, for Aunt Gerald, so she would jokingly hug me and say, “There’s Noni.” She was never short on hugs and every time she saw me she’d say, “There’s Noni.” And give me one of the hardiest of hugs.

I don’t think any of my other aunts loved me like she did. Living over a thousand miles away for the past twelve years hasn’t allowed me many visits back home, but the one time I did go back to see my mother in the hospital, Aunt Nerl showed up and there she said again, “There’s Noni!”

She always told me that I reminded her of her. Always laughing, always seemingly happy, making others laugh and just a personality that mirrored hers. That made me pretty proud because no offense to my other aunts, they were not as jovial as we were/are. Since my Aunt Gerald is my father’s sister, I could see where my DNA had coursed.

Yesterday was a tough day for my mother and father. My dad almost seemed irate when he learned that my brother had found out about my aunts death on the computer. They are not of the computer age and think this gadget is a turnstile from hell. He doesn’t understand that facebook is used as a source of comfort when we need to be consoled. My cousins announced their mothers’ death to seek comfort not to degrade her in any way and I tried to let my parents know that.

Thumbprints are left on the soul. We have people in our lives that leave lasting prints never to be washed away. Whether these people are online friends or physical beings in your life, a print is made and you cling to the person via the memories and stories left on your soul.

We all mourn differently. This past week as my mother kept telling me to pray for my aunt, I told her I was praying for her peace, not her miraculous healing. While I am notably an optimist and believe in miracles, I knew when I heard that my aunt had cancer of the blood, it would not be long before I heard of her death. The realist in me accepted this portion of the journey that we must all take.

Last Saturday my aunt was given forty-eight hours to live. It was a miracle that by Monday morning she had a chance to sit up, eat some jell-o and meet with her kids one last time. By Sunday the 25^th, her needed organs ceased to function and she went on into eternal peace, just what I prayed for. Peace from the continued suffering. Peace to let go and meet the Lord head on. Peace to finally be free of these earthly restrictions.

Death is never easy for the living.

Pss. 61: 1-4  Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.