Dichroic Reflections

not quite that bad

I should probably clarify a bit from yesterday. I don't want anyone to think I don't have any local friends!

We do have some community among the rowers, especially those that row as Arizona Outlaws, and most especially She-Hulk. I'd go to her if I needed any kind of help, not only because she's our friend but because she's that kind of person - like Jane of Lantern Hill, it's a keynote to her character. And lately I've been especially pleased to not only get the Cubemate rowing as an Outlaw, but also as we begin to be friends rather than just coworkers.
There have been a few others from various previous jobs I'd still count as friends, though of course I see them less often than when we worked together. Still, it is a difficult area to make friends and to build community. One reason is that so few people have roots here. It's happened to us again and again that we make friends with someone who then moves away - T2 and Egret are the most recent examples of this.

In addition, I do feel that I have supportive communities, plural, online. There are email discussion groups that I've been active on for nearly a decade, in addition to the people whose blogs I read and who read mine, on LJ, Diaryland and elsewhere. Some of those are among the first people I'd go to with a grief. Still, hugs don't travel well through the electrons and neither do casseroles or cookies. (On the other hand, a donation to the local Human Society in honored of a recently deceased cat works just fine over distance, and can be just as good for making you feel loved.)

So please don't take yesterday's entry as my way of whining "I'm all alo-o-o-o-ne and nobody likes me!" Just, sometimes, a little more so than I'd like to be. (And it's probably not coincidental if I tend to write things like that when Rudder is away.)