> Anywhere? Ughhhhhhhhhhh

Friends,

I’m writing you to say thank you for all of the encouraging, thoughtful, funny messages. I have been ridiculously busy at work and haven’t kept my word about writing back-I’m sorry about that and will try to catch up tomorrow. Pinky swear.

I’m editing this post also to say that a malignant this site that is particularly volatile towards women found my , and proceeded to say things like “jesus motherfucking christ man, this old hag will start freezing her eggs at 33 or more, maybe have a defective child or stay barren since not only her eggs needs to be healthy but also her womb, I give her 12% chance of her getting successfully pregnant and thats is just best case scenario, its game over for her, she'll be a singleton by 40 and hate the shit out of everyone.”

Needless to say, after seeing that my post had been cross posted where I was called a whore, slut, useless, and essentially, undeserving of a healthy/functional relationship, I was pretty frustrated. The people on this site I have encountered, up until this point, have been lovely. However, I felt uncomfortable leaving my post up, only to be referenced by people that find it acceptable to berate, bully, and shame those of us that use this forum as a place of community and connection.

This leads me to my final point: online bullying is for real. Maybe it’s my sunny view of the world, but I always thought folks that spoke this way about a stranger were few and far between. The amount of solidarity and kindness all of you genuine people have shown, though, is a light that overpowers darkness. Or as seen through the eyes of Samwise: “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

In love and kindness,

Finger Snapper