Sunday, August 26, 2018

Toasting all my "imaginary" (online) Friends and remembering TarHeelGirl


I recently learned of the passing of an online friend and it got me thinking about how real both the friendship and the loss feels to me. So I wanted to take the time to honor her memory and to let the rest of you know how much your friendship means to me too.

R. I. P. TarHeelGirl-Linda 



Linda aka TarHeelGirl was a founding member of my Goodreads group and came over like many did from my Barnes & Noble General Fiction book club when B&N shut them down. She was an active participant in all of our group reads and loved interacting with our visiting authors. She liked a wide variety of genres but gravitated to genre fiction the most. Her avatar – TarHeelGirl said exactly who she was; a North Carolina native and a tried and true Tar Heel fan.  I’ve been going through her posts to remember what she liked etc and learned that she was only 53 when she died. Way too young.
She will be missed.
The following is a post where as an ice-breaker we all said what we wanted to be when we grew up and what we actually grew up to be.


 To the rest of my online friends, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bloggers, Goodread etc.




I learn a lot from all of you sometimes important stuff and sometimes things I can only use playing trivial pursuit, you all brighten my days and light up my nights, make me smile, make me think, make me cry and sometimes make me angry. But the most important thing you all do is make me feel and I’m grateful to each and every one of you for that.  
That makes us kind of the 21st century version of pen pals only quicker than the USPS and I look forward to keeping up and catching up with all your ups and your downs and sharing my own.
So raise a glass in remembrance of TarHeelGirl and raise a glass to yourself while you’re at it.



 

18 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear of her passing. I've had a few blogging and fb friends pass away and it's always hard.

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    1. Thanks Mary, yes it is hard. thank you for your friendship!

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  2. Such a lovely tribute, Debbie. My heartfelt condolences. The friends we make online do become very special as we share time and positive experiences that stay with us. Meeting you, one of my first online friends, has been amazing and I treasure your friendship. I do hope we get to meet some day! In the meantime, let’s continue building memories.

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    1. dearest Lorelei yes yes, meeting you is actually on my bucket list! :)
      You are one of my closest online friends and I also treasure that <3
      Thank you for being a special friend xo

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  3. I'm sorry for your loss Debbie, it is always hard losing someone you love, online or in real life. So glad I met you and so many others as well!

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    1. Ali thank you and yes it's amazing how important our online friends become to us. I treasure your friendship as well xo

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  4. I have never met any of my online friends, but they really are friends and I m sorry

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  5. I am sorry to hear of her passing and at such a young age. Life sure is fleeting. You've been close online with her for a long time. Raising my glass.

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    1. Thanks Kathryn, yes a long time and even though it wasn't often I still feel a very real loss
      toasting you too my friend xo

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  6. I'm so sorry for your loss. I used to have many pen pals, and you're right -- online friends are very similar!

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    1. Thank you Dianna. I know I was actually crying over this friend and I realized that she was as real to me as anyone I know personally.
      Take care xo

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  7. I am sorry for your loss, there were so many wonderful peeps on B&N. I still miss it, and it was a wonderful resource for finding good books. What a lovely tribute. I must confess that most of my friends are online. *raises glass to friends new and old*

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    1. Thanks Kim and yes most of my friends are online too but you're just as real to me as if I'm having coffee with you. I miss B&N too.
      xo my friend

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  8. That stinks. I'll continue missing her

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  9. I'm Kenneth, TarheelGirl00's husband, and I would like to thank you for this tribute. It is good for me to see so many wonderful comments about her. She was an exceptional woman. I told her more than once that she was the complete package - intelligent, personable and beautiful. My life is definitely better for having known her. I could not have asked for a better wife and friend. I was blessed to have known her for 28 years and be her husband for 26 of those years.

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    1. My heart breaks for your terrible loss Kenneth and I know no words are sufficient at this time. I hope the memories of those 28 years together will start to bring you solace. She was a true friend and I miss her terribly.

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