Pictures for Pam, Day 205: Pair of Roses in a Double Dedication with Marie-claire Gallet

(This is not the most up-beat post, my apologies)

Today has been lovely outside, a bit too warm but pretty. But in my heart I am feeling very sad and unhappy ever since I learned about Marie-claire last night. It's got me thinking about my mortality and Steve too, has been feeling low. He doesn't know Marie-claire but I told him what a special person she is and how important she is to the ipernity community.

Oddly enough, Steve read a post on his favorite idle-time website, "Imgur" that affected him very deeply, for a reason I'll explain. The post was about a guy who had an online gaming friend. One day that buddy gave him all of his in-game stuff and said that he was very sick with cancer and had to stop playing their game. After a few weeks without his friend logging on, he couldn't bear to play the game anymore because it made him too sad. He still checks in from time to time...last time he looked, his friend hadn't been online for over 700 days... This story hit home with Steve because we used to have a very dear friend who we met while playing World of Warcraft. So many adventures, so much fun...our very best experiences playing any online game involved our friend and his wife. Later Steve and our friend discovered they both loved another game, World of Tanks. They spent many hours playing that game together and developed a very close bond.

About a year ago, our friend got brain cancer and even though he fought very hard, he couldn't beat it. The whole time though, Steve kept in touch, calling and giving what support he could. One day, our friend's wife let us know that he was gone. It was such a hard time for us because we loved him so much and felt incredibly sad for his wife who we care deeply for as well. Steve still grieves deeply for his lost friend, as do I. We miss him terribly and think about him all the time. It's just so hard to believe that he's gone. That Imgur post affected Steve deeply because he still plays World of Tanks and our friend's character is visible every time he logs in. It's been about 700 days since he logged on. Steve mourns his lost friend and sadly, my warm hugs cannot bring him back. :(

It is amazing to us that so many people discount online relationships as inferior to "real" in-person relationships. I for one, can tell you that my very best friends (other than Steve, of course) are ALL online.

Today I am missing Marie-claire and I am very worried and sad about her. She is my friend and I want her to be well and happy and posting pictures like crazy as she is so well-known to do.

My picture today is, again, a duel dedication to both my dear friend Pam and also to Marie-claire. I am having a problem knowing what to do so that I can show proper support to each of my friends. I am hoping that they will not mind if I change my project name to join them together, like this pair of flowers that I am posting today. I don't know how else to do this. :( (Pam has let me know that she is honored to have Marie-claire added in my daily dedication) :)

Pammy, I'm so glad you enjoyed my poppy pictures...it's such a bummer that none of your poppy seeds survived to give you flowers! Maybe it's like the Moonflowers and me...I have tried and tried and tried to get them to grow for me but they just won't! It seems that some flowers just aren't meant to grow in certain places, even when the habitats seem to be the same. It is a fact that I've planted zillions of different wildflowers and almost NONE ever sprout. Our properties seem to be inhospitable to most flowers, and yet False Sunnies are what grow for both of us and mean the most of all! *THINKING WARM THOUGHTS OF YOU MY DEAR!*

Explored on 6/3/19; highest placement, #5.