WARNING: This post will be raw and emotional. If this isn’t your cup of tea, I would move on.
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All,
This may not be the appropriate place to put this, but I’m not sure where else to go.
I was informed last night that my ATF of 17+ years passed away. She was more than just an ATF, actually. Way more. We started out in the hobby realm, but soon transcended it. While we may have kept a foot in the hobby door, we became very real friends. We texted almost every day. That close friendship really made the time we were together pretty amazing.
Yes, we loved each other. Love meaning cared for, not “in love”. We didn’t want to take things further.
Her family and friends are in my thoughts; however, I’m sad that our story is frozen in time. I find myself reliving all those times we went to lunch or dinner, the parks we went to, or just our conversations. That’s the part I’ll miss the most.
This woman touched my life in a very special way, and yet I must grieve in silence. That’s the hardest part of all, and so I felt the need to put this to “paper” here.
So….a personal note to her:
Thanks, L. Thanks for taking the time to get to know me. When I first met you, I never expected it to turn out this way. There’s a part of my heart you took with you, and I’ll never get that back. No one else will ever fill that hole.
I’ll move on, but our friendship and adventures will always be with me.
Sincerely,
M