Monday, November 24, 2008

hating the internet

In the last couple of weeks there has been lots of bad news. A friend lost her grandmother, several other friends reported knowing someone in their family or group of friends who had died. My mother told me of at least three people she is friends with who have lost someone they love. Worst of all, one of my oldest and dearest friends lost her husband. Too much.

Celia had a school project that required an old photo of her, so we looked through our photo boxes to find one she wanted to use. I found a photo from my first days at college, smiling in a dorm hallway with a big group of friends. Whatever happened to so-and-so, I wondered? So I googled his name.

I may hate the internet now. I found his obituary, from June 2006. Two full years ago, and I never knew. There's no other information either. Just date and place. Quite possibly one of the finest people I ever knew, and someone whose friendship I always regretted losing track of over the years. I thought of him often, wondered if he'd ever married and had the children he deserved, if he was still helping people, being active in his church. Guess I'll never know now. All those "I should contact" and good intentions for keeping in touch - how I regret them now.

The internet is great, but somethings are better left unknown I suppose.

2 comments:

Carol said...

Oh goodness Lisa Beth, what a shock for you to find that out. Okay I'm going to look at this in a different fashion. The internet was a good thing on this occasion, because whilst it hurts right now because you found out about your old friend, it might change your path for the future and you just may think about other old friends and renew acquaintances.

I'm so sad for you with all this loss. Just hug your girls that little bit tighter tonight. {{{hugs}}}

Lisa Beth said...

Thanks Carol - I did just that, hug the girls. And I have found another old friend online and we're Facebook friends now! Crazy world.