A Sad Day

 You know, a lot of people like to complain about the internet, and especially social media, and there's certainly a lot to complain about.  But there are some things that it provides that we never had before, and one of those things is our ability to interact with people that we would never otherwise meet.

Years ago a friend tipped me off that there was a blog she was having fun with.  It was a woman in Canada who wrote the blog as though her cat was writing it, and if you kept up with it long enough you would swear that you'd come to know Mojo and could recognize his "voice" from his blog.  As time went on several of us began to participate in the comments in the voice of our own cats (and in one case, a dog, and some bugs).  It became a sort of social media for cats, and it just worked.  Sure, it was silly, but it was fun, and we more or less got to know each other that way.

Then back in 2018 I learned that I was a candidate for cochlear implants, and one of the guys who I knew both on Mojo's blog and on regular social media and, in fact, in real life (hi, SH) told me that the woman who was Mojo's "mom" and who wrote the blog was deaf, and had a cochlear implant. 

We began a correspondence then that was incredibly helpful to me.  She was the only person I knew that could tell me what to expect and we talked almost daily for that first year.  We exchanged cards at the holidays and she referred to us as "CI sisters".  It was a gift, from a wonderful person in Nova Scotia that I would almost certainly never have met if not for her online presence.

Today I learned that she died this month, and I'm grieving.  I hope she knew how much she meant to me.  I know I've thanked her and tried to tell her how much her experience and guidance and kindness helped, but I'd have loved to have a chance to say it all again.  And I can't.

I'm not her family, I'm not even an in-person friend, but thanks to the internet we truly became friends and I will always remember her, and be grateful to her, and miss her.

Rest well, Lisa.


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