Loss of a Close Friend

I heard this afternoon that my friend Sumie Kawashima passed away in RL. Needless to say I was shocked and deeply saddened at hearing this.

I know quite a few people in Second Life. Lots of people in my "friends list". Lots of people that I know just to say hello to, how are you?

But Sumie was without question one of my true friends in Second Life. It didn't matter what we were doing. Out chasing pirates over the Firth,(We found not pirate one) me riding shotgun as she flew. Dancing at Prop Spinners, her doing back flips and Boing Boing all over the place. Listening to her talk as a drunken pirate, which always had me on the floor laughing. Hanging out on the deck of my treehouse or watching her work on one of her wonderful aircraft at the aerodrome. She was never anything less than a delight no matter what we were doing, and I just adored her.

Each and every time we did something together she always left with "I love you angel." And for whatever reason, be it my stoic mid-western upbringing, a general emotional constipation.... I never told her how great I thought she was and how grateful I was for our friendship.

At the beginning of the month I decided to take a break from the internet and Second Life. I just felt I was spending way too many hours here. The idea was that I'd be back after New Years. I lasted about 10 days and my main reason for returning to Second Life was to check on Sumie. I knew she had been sick and in the hospital but was doing much better the last time we talked.

There is a Sheryl Crow song called the "Difficult Kind". In that song is a line that goes something like...

"There ain't nothing like regret to remind you your alive"

I find myself regretting two things. That I don't have command enough of the English language to express how much I'll miss her and that I never told her how cool she was.

Love you Sweetie, I'll miss you more than you can imagine.