Vanished into thin air

Many of us who have been in Second Life have some friends we have known for years, but we only know them in Second Life, not Real Life. We may not know their real names or where they live, which is very common because of anonymity.

What do you do if the person you know in Second Life all of a sudden does not show up anymore and you know they had some medical problems? How do you deal with this kind of grief?

I created a little cemetery to help cope with the losses of people who are no longer logging in here at my Retreat.

Maybe the person has passed on or something happened to them. You develop that connection to that avatar and it is real just like in the real world, but now they have vanished into thin air.

When grieving someone who you didn't really know in real life, you may feel abandoned or unloved by the person, regret not taking the time to get to know them better, cheated, and resentful that death stole your opportunity to have a relationship with the person, and so on. Then again you do not know the details why they are gone. 

Perhaps someone else knew the person and they found out that the person has passed on. How do you grieve over a person you never really knew?

To be honest you have to use the same steps for grieving as you would if it happened to a close person you knew in the physical world. This is still a loss and when something is gone it creates a certain pain. Grief is a very personal process, handled in a variety of ways. Some need time to themselves and turn inward while grieving. Others find comfort in surrounding themselves with friends and loved ones and talking about the person who has died.

Consider this a virtual hug from me to you. It will be ok. You were lucky to have met this avatar and they always will be part of your virtual experience just like in the real world, because the virtual world is also the real world.