Sometimes, we cannot even choose our friends

Some people are sunshine just by showing up. Some create warmth by leaving.

Everyone who stops on your path contributes to the person called you. But you get to decide how to use the gifts.

That thought was inspired by a field of sunflowers that popped up in FarmVille and the struggles of friendship, especially online friends.

Online friends are great, but sometimes they lose out. Those online friends know only what we put out there. They miss the grimaces of pain that might cloud our judgment. They get only the starkness of words. They see just a glimpse of me.

There is no casual bumping into each other. There is no way for intervention by caring friends. There are no shared events, no run-in-to reach-other at the grocery store or a neighborhood event.

A block is better then the personal protection order at maintaining separation.

You are left with arranging the flowers, the gifts, left behind.