Friendships via social media

Sometimes in our lives we come across people who become our friends and we have no clue as to how they became that way.

I have many friends that I have met due to our similarities or our work environment or by just being an author. I also have many friends on social media. Friends that 'friended' me or 'liked' my page or 'connected' on the more professional sites but I call them my friends.

One day those friends, for whatever reason may stop commenting on your blogs, or your FB 'status' or your 'comment' but you don't think much of it and you may forget all about them. But not me. I remember every person that has ever posted a comment on my page and one woman in particular has stuck with me. Her name is +Sandra Humphrey and she became my 'friend' on LinkedIn. We belonged to almost the same groups and we 'connected' via the blog posting group.

Every mornning we exchanged a 'good morning' email to each other because we shared one thing in common. She reached out to me when she saw me join the group and even bought my novel. Every day was the same thing...a good morning email and then at least three or four emails throughout the day as we talked about grandchildren and her children's books. Then one day it happened, no email. Hey, we all get busy but I figured I'd see one before noon. Then noon came and no email! and then a whole day went by and no email!

I logged into 'our' group and tried to find her and the strange thing was, she wasn't there. What was going on? I then got a notification that there was a fire and that Sandra Humphrey and her husband had been killed. I burst into tears. I knew it had to be a mistake, but as I tried to search for something that would make that horrible news go away, all I found was a picture of her burned to the ground home and the picture of her signing her books with a big brown teddy bear sitting next to her. That was on November 23, 2012. Our 'community' was shocked and saddened. She and her husband were the love of their community and although I never met her in person, I felt a true sense of loss.

It has taken me six months to finish this post because every time I thought about it, I would cry and now although I am misty eyed, I know that she wants 'our' group to continue to show support to each other and to continue to do what we love; which is to write books that inspire, and help children believe in themselves. For all of the authors that knew Sandra...count yourself fortunate that you knew such a great person; I know I do.