My Single Mom Life

A friend of mine on the local forums, messaged me tonight to say thank you.
She said that during all of her recent health issues, all of the pain she deals with, and all the emotions that come from living with chronic and debilitating pain, she had a really bad day a few weeks ago, and I was the only one who responded to her very frustrated post where she was ranting about it all.

She said she had been sitting there that day, was in so much pain, just wanted it all to end, and was seriously considering swallowing all of her pain medications at once and just going to sleep to never wake up again.
Because I replied, because I understood what she deals with and took the time to talk to her, she changed her mind.
"I never wanted to say that I was suicidal before but obviously there were times when I was. And you were the one there one day when I was so close to downing all my pills. You were the voice of reason and you made me feel like I wasn't alone for once.
So for that, I sincerely thank you."

I didn't reply to her that day with the thought of changing her mind, her post said nothing about what she was really thinking, it was just one of those posts where someone rants about how frustrating living with chronic pain is, and I replied because I do understand that.
I deal with it every single day of my life, and years ago, I had those same kinds of thoughts myself.
I didn't say that in her thread, I just talked about living with chronic pain, the medications I take, doctors appointments, the frustration of it all.
It was, I thought, just two people sharing a shared experience.
I had no idea that our conversation was saving her.

When I got her message tonight, I started crying.
I couldn't help it, I thought about how close I was to losing a friend, and what if I hadn't been on line that day, what if no one at all had responded to her, and that I was so happy to read that she had changed her mind.

This internet is a crazy thing huh?
It connects us to fun and games, music, movies, blogs, forums, all kinds of cool and interesting things to do and see, and most importantly, it connects us to other people and has an effect on those people we meet.

Her message still has me shaken up a bit even though it's been several hours now.
I could have lost a friend if I had not been on line that day, and that really is shaking me up.
I am so glad she is still here, so so glad, but wow, this box sitting on my desk, it's more than a toy I play my Sims on, it's more than a keyboard I do work on, it connects me to people in a way I've never experienced before tonight.