Old Friends (Without Air Quotes)

This medium is still strange to me in many ways.  I feel as though I know people whom I've never met, as least not in person.  But I feel like I've met you.  We share deep thoughts and experiences through blogs.  Thoughts that are fully developed or are in the process of developing... oftentimes things I don't have time or place to share with my proximate friends who accompany me in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  I think it is possible to know someone through blogs and to know them intimately.  But here is the strange part:  Just as quickly, as life gets in the way, we can disappear.  Check out.  Step away from the computer leaving nothing but a post whose poststamp gets more and more ancient.  I got irritated with one blogger who quit writing just like that.  No explanation.  No winding down.  Just stopped.  I was irritated because I wondered what happened to her.  Where was the end of the story???  But then, it isn't a story, is it?  It's just life.  Busy, crazy, ongoing life.  I still wonder about her.  And every now and again I check her blog, just to see if she's come back.  And when she does, I'll try to welcome her as kindly as my old friends welcomed me.  Thanks.