The Missing Song

How am I to measure these feelings?
What the hell is one heartbeat away?
The distance doesn't care, it's completely unaware
Only the pounding of my heart is here to stay.
--Disappear Fear

Many thoughts about friendship, bitter and sweet, swirling today. I'm full of missing - missing Sherlyn (yes, already), who left this morning and who I won't likely see again for another couple of years, missing William (the lucky bum) who might at this very moment be cavorting with the honu in Hawaii, missing Jer - always, always missing Jer. Anastasia... Sheri... Mike.

A blessing and a curse of the internet - my life has been enriched beyond measure by the relationships that were made possible and/or strengthened by online communication, while at the same time I am separated by great distance from many of those whom I consider to be my closest friends. No dropping by for a quick visit or getting together for a movie; when you live in different time zones, even a phone call can be difficult to manage.

And yet. Even without seeing some of these folk for years at a time (Steve... Iggy... Krista), I'm continually amazed and gratified by how strong the connections remain.

Take Sherlyn for example (Please! Really! Take her! *g*). 10 years ago we started e-mailing after having "met" on the Indigo Girls mailing list. A few months later, she made her first trip to the States, staying with me in Ann Arbor for several days. We've probably, in total, spent less than a month of of actual face-to-face time in that 10 years, and both of us will admit that we're not the most consistent when it comes to regular e-mail correspondence. And yet, each time we get together, we're able to pick up where we left off as if she just lives up the block and we routinely borrow sugar from one another.

On a related topic, I've been struck lately by some new shifts that have happened at work (of all places!), brought about - again - by electronic communication. In the last few weeks, I've had virtual conversations that have crossed over that boundary that exists between co-workers into the realm of - not friendship, quite, but at least friendliness on a more personal level. It's been a really nice thing, allowing me to get to know people a bit better at a place where I usually function in self-imposed isolation (as I know that my days are numbered here, by my choice). That kind of communication, the meeting of minds and sharing of selves, is what feeds my soul, and I'm grateful for it in whatever context it arrives. Hurrah for IRC!