I didn’t know, not until today, that I felt so close to someone I’d never even met.

I didn’t know it until I saw the actual words declaring that her blog had been DELETED.
Gone.
Poof!
Mine was a physical response, like someone hitting me hard in the stomach and knocking all the breath from my body.

Too dramatic?
OK, maybe just a bit, but the girl has left a hole in my heart.
And if you read her blog you’re missing her too.

She would say, “aw-shucks”, and dismiss the compliment, but I think she’d like knowing.
And she’d respond with 2 or 3 flower, heart, or smiley emoticons.

I don’t know how she ever found my little needle in the huge WordPress haystack, but she left a few comments and likes, so I visited her site.
I finally figured out that’s how you meet others around WordPressville, duh!
That day I hit FOLLOW and enjoyed every single post she wrote.
Forging a friendship through comments and the bits and pieces of our daily lives shared in posts.

She made me laugh and think.
That’s a rare skill set combo on the web or in real life.
Her blog-voice hit just the right notes with clarity, sincerity, and humor.

Non-bloggers would never understand this affinity we experience in the online community.
I can’t share this loss with my husband. He’d give me that look he gives me when I talk about upholstered furniture.
If I posted it on Facebook my friends would think I ought to get out more.
Maybe meet real friends for real conversation over real beverages in the real world.

So I’m sharing my distress and bereft-ness with the only people who can identify and empathize, my fellow WordPress friends.
It’s not in my nature to be bummed for long. I can’t do mopey serious justice because sooner or later something makes me laugh.
Once the mood is broken I can’t get back into downward facing dog mode.

But Kate wouldn’t want that anyway.
That would definitely make her roll her eyes.
Instead let’s try some pop-wisdom from the author of the 1970’s best-seller Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.
Because that wouldn’t make her roll her eyes. . .

So I’m setting her free to laze at the beach, and quilt shop in Dutch Country, and barbecue on Thursday nights.
She can write a Devotional or a Romance novel this summer.
She can take college courses or traipse around Ireland, but we have a date certain for this Fall.
I’m holding her to that last sweet post announcing a summer hiatus.
I can live without my favorite TV show for 12 weeks, but getting along without Serious Thoughts Taken Not So Seriously will stretch me to my limit.
So Fall it is.

That’s when I expect a notice to land in my Inbox announcing that MY FRIEND KATE BORTELL has returned to WordPress, donned her pajamas and climbed onto the couch to blog for us all once again!

Now you’re invited to cry all over my Comments Section or better yet, share a favorite Kate-ism.