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An online friend that I had for many years passed away last week on Sunday. I didn’t find out until later because I decided to look up his name + obituary on google. His obituary was one of the first results, and it was definitely him in the photos. He had a lot of health issues (about 6 years ago, he received two transplants, heart and lung) so it wasn’t exactly unexpected, but it did seem to come out of no where. We were talking about things that we always did just 3 days prior to his death. He never mentioned anything about thinking he’ll pass soon, probably because he didn’t want his friends to hurt. I have never had a close friens of mine die before, so I’m not sure whar to make of this. I keep looking at photos of his funeral, thinking about how I’ll never get to talk to him again. I try to tell myself that he had a good final run on his life, because he definitely did. He spent all the time he could doing whatever he wanted How has death affected you in your own life? How did you cope with it?

Aw shucks. Sorry for your loss, man. I recently learned about the death of a friend in my circle, too. I learned about it from a friend in a group chat. Good guy, made alot of people happy around him. It is like kicking dead whales down the beach that I couldn't chat with him one last time before his death. I haven't talked to him in ages because i was focusing on my studies. Apparently he died a painless death. I can only wish the best for your friend, too. >I keep looking at photos of his funeral, thinking about how I’ll never get to talk to him again. Same. Not exactly funeral photos, but the same idea. It's still lingering in my mind atm. >How did you cope with it? After learning the news, I went about my day as usual. Feeling pretty down, but keeping my head up for the rest of the day. Was still at work during that time and was about to finish my shift, so I finished it before I could process everything. Went home, played with some folks, then took a break to finally process everything. Cried about it, Talked about it to some other friends that were close to him, made notes about everything going on in my mind and, the next day, I sent my notes and my wishes to the family. Helped a ton to cope with it. Thanked his family for taking the effort to bring the news about his death to his friends online. Wonderful brother. I can only wish for someone to do the same for me too. He had a good run and I'm grateful for everything he did in our community. I'll remember the guy for all the good he did. Hope you'll feel better about it all and find peace, lainon. It's a process, and I hope you'll remember the guy like I did. That's the best we can do. Take it easy and take your time.

I've not heard from my internet friend in over a year, and at this point I mostly consider him dead in absentia. We used to talk for a few hours every day, usually about quite personal stuff. He was definitely one of the closest people in my life. I still think about him basically every day and I've struggled to find a good way to cope with it. Lots of stuff reminds me of him, usually because I remember talking about it with him. I also did something resembling a wake for him with our other internet friends. That helped a little, I think. Around the time he left I was quite involved with my college's boat club. Training with them most days was a good distraction and it really helped me to get through a difficult time. Loneliness really set in once I graduated. I guess my advice is to join a sports team if you can.