To a dear friend...

In early September I wrote about a friend that gave me a frog. In memory of a 9 year old boy named Joshua, that frog was. I wrote about how she herself (my friend that gave me the frog) was battling cancer. In that blog-post I wrote:

..."Take some time out of your busy schedule. Remember there are marvelous things to see and do every day. Miracles happen in your life on a daily basis, really! Just take the time to watch them."

Then a few short weeks later my frog-handling friend slipped into a coma. I think it was a coma anyway, the details are blurry. But she snapped out of it, and on September 28, 2009 I wrote in another blog-post how happy I was to see her back in this crazy world we call SL. I even joked how much I hate Jimmy Buffet, and how she surely would request me playing some upon her return. We didn't see each other much after that. Once she was a transformer like avatar for a Halloween event. When we did talk, it was mostly about her wigs. Not the SL kind, the real ones that kept her from showing her bald head to the world. I tried to be lighthearted, that wasn't always easy. And where previously we would have been joking up a storm, trying to not be outdone by the other with our witty one-liners, the conversation would often have these lengthy, awkward pauses. I don't think I even said goodbye the last time we talked.

I am not going to beat myself up over that, in SL those things happen. You know, you are busy, or your connection drops for the umpteenth time and you just decide to give up for the day... But I do wish I would have had a chance to say goodbye one last time.

When I logged on today, not having been on much because I have a pretty bad case of the flu, I found a saved IM from another good friend. My lady in Antarctica, who sends me pictures from her ice-diving adventures. She and my frog-toting friend are family (well sort of) in the real world. "Gucissa Crimson lost her battle with cancer".

That's pretty much all it said. I am devastated! Gucissa is/was one of those people to look up to. An amazing lady with an amazing outlook on life. An outlook that I can no longer share with her or quiz her about, but that I will continue (I will try at least) to carry forward. In time, you will, if you hang around me long enough, learn about her legacy.

Sleep well my dear friend, and sweet dreams. Oh, I heard there is a beach house for rent. On the moon!