The fact is, much of my communication with my friends is by email. It is a reflection of the age, but I also think this is a result of my tendency to continuously move away from them - from the PA to Iowa (I keep that quiet), from Iowa to PA, from the States to London, from London to York...
Luckily, most of my friends and friendships seem to be robust enough to cope with all this nomadic behaviour and I have quite animated conversations with them pretty often. In fact, email is sufficiently abstract yet quick enough to make saying very personal things about love, life, sex and family easier than saying them in person.
About a year ago, a friend of mine from the States that I have known since she was about 7 and I about 11, told me she felt really well but was actually very sick. She had a rare and very serious form of breast cancer for which the prognosis was not good. Over the course of the last year, we talked about her illness and wellness, her daughter who played with mine, her husband, her adoptive mom and dad. We also traded jokes and gossip and dodgy email circulars.
Last week I emailed her. She didn't email back, but I was used to it: she's a busy woman despite the chemo. But she had died - her funeral was yesterday. http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/222-10252004-389021.html
Email isn't so good for that.
Danielle
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