Last night I chanced across a former associates’ web page and her description of the Botcon in 2001. It brought back a flood of memories. You see, we once had friends in common who last night I saw pictures of and read about. These were people I thought I’d be friends with until the close of our lives. We haven’t spoken in around 4 years. It wasn’t an amiable parting of ways. One friend in particular, the linchpin in our group, and someone I had once written to and thought a great deal of, was basically MIA. I knew where she was, but I never heard anything from her and in the world of e-mail, that’s a deafening silence. I knew others who felt they’d gotten the same cold shoulder and had made a few gentle nudges before finally saying how I felt. That she was ignoring other friends in favor of this one other friend. Maybe I overreacted. It’s so long ago now that I’ve forgotten so many of the details. That was pretty much the end of it, shock from her, an angry e-mail from the one friend she stayed in touch with, and I dabbed ointment on the wounds and moved on with things.

Some months later, the only friend we still have in common told me that these two friends were engaged. You might think I’d have been surprised considering they were both females, but for some reason, it made sense. And I’m accepting enough to, say, “okay, best wishes and much happiness.” But it didn’t end there, the friend I’d once felt I’d know the rest of my life as a friend, had come to the conclusion she was never meant to be female and was going to make the necessary changes to correct nature’s oversight. I think I saw “him” at BotCon this past year, the first I’d attended in the year’s since we went our seperate ways. But this photo and description of the events at last year’s con in which this old associate kept referring to him by his new name so acceptingly, was the first time I’d accepted the changes in my heart and mind. I don’t think our paths will ever really cross again. But I think I’ve finally accepted the person he is now and wish him and his intended all the best.