Perspectives

Admittedly, this post is inspired by black_king, but it comes from my own perspective. He's not the only one to feel a twinge of what "might have been." For all intents and purposes, I'm still a member of the Club... I could have gone. I don't have any characters left, nor plans to make any for Requiem. I paid my $20 just to get people to stop asking me if I was going to renew my membership. But as Thomas Wolfe wrote, "You Can't Go Home Again." That's what the Org feels like to me - like a drive through the neighborhood where I grew up. The houses are all different, the businesses boarded up, deserted, the street that I lived on in decay. It's not the same, and it never will be. The Cam is the same. At some point, it gels for everyone, but that can't last forever. People grow up, change, shift their priorities, learn more about themselves, move on to other things, or decide that the challenges and obstacles that running an all-volunteer organization pose are not worth the heartache they entail. But some things can remain the same. Love, friends, relationships of all kinds, regardless of distance. Those things that are real and true will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Those things that are transient, well, they move away.

Do not look back with regret or melancholy. It's hard, and I can't always practice what I preach. Those things that are real, they will stick with you, and those are the things you must cherish. For those of you who think I do too much and fight too hard, just remember that my philosophy is that it is the people in my life that matter the most, and the memories that I make with them I will carry far longer than a dollar in my pocket.

If it's in my power, I'll make it happen, damnit. I love you all.