How Will They Know?

Yesterday, an internet friend of mine informed me that he had been in an accident with his motorcycle, and I was quite worried about him for awhile as he was in shock and was very upset, so it was hard to get the full story out of him. I finally managed to ascertain that he was not badly injured and that his beloved bike would be okay, after a few minor repairs. The accident was not his fault, by the way - it was discovered that a minor structural issue had caused the trouble.

So I moved on from that, being thankful that my friend was all right. Then today, another friend popped up on my instant messenger at work to inform me that a lady who was part of a site we work for had suddenly passed away this morning. It was a huge shock, and I must admit that I am still finding myself having a hard time believing it even now. I was not a close friend of this lady, and had not communicated with her for quite some time, but in the past I had always found her to be very nice and I liked her very much. It is quite sad to think that I will not see her around the site anymore...

This is the first time I have encountered the death of someone that I know via the internet. In the case of this lady, another member of our group was informed by her husband that she had passed away when she had tried to email her this morning. As our group actually works together online, it is unlikely that we would not hear about it if anything were to happen to one of the members. However, there are other sites that I belong to where a member could pass over and no one would ever hear about it. Their family members may not know they belong to the sites, or they may not know their user names and passwords in order to get in and pass along the news. One site in particular is kind of like a huge cyber-family, and members get very concerned if anyone disappears for awhile. We've had a couple of long-standing members vanish with no explanation or warning, and I know that I, and some others, have often wondered if something had happened to them.

In the past I have thought about this issue, and realized that if I were to pass over, or become to ill or disabled to contact anyone, the people in the sites I belong to would never know about it. This lady's death has brought this back to light again, and I have decided to do something to ensure that my cyber friends will be notified if anything should happen to me. I am going to make a list of all of the sites I belong to, with my usernames and passwords for each site. I am also going to make a list of the email addresses of people that I would like to be notified. I am going to put this list in a safe place, and ask my sister if she would be so kind as to retrieve the list and make the necessary notifications should anything happen to me. If she does not feel that she would be up to doing that, then I will appoint someone else and ask her to pass the list along to them.

In the midst of all of this sadness today, there were a couple of sunny spots. The same dear friend who notified me of the death of our co-volunteer is having a birthday today, and that is always a happy occasion! I will not say her name on here, as I'm not sure if she'd appreciate that, but you know who you are, Cupcake, so a HUGE Happy Birthday to you! May it be blessed with love, peace, and happiness!

I was also able to skip out of work early today, which is always a bonus! I actually was off on some work related stuff, but it beat being in the office! Every Friday we have a barbecue at work for lunch, so I had to pop out and shop for supplies for tomorrow. This got me out of work about an hour early, and I must say it made for a nice change.

There were a few other bright spots to the day as well, so as with all things in life, there was some good, and some not so good. I wish that the not so good stuff hadn't been quite so sad, but I am confident that this lady is in a good place, and that she will be fine. My prayers are with her, her family, and her friends at this time - may they all find peace and healing.

Rest in Peace, Sam - you will be greatly missed.