Hanging out with Abbie at my place.
Oh, the ironies.
When I joined SLCS I was a teen cheerleader from SLHS. But there were no SLCS teens in Feb 2011 and I had to age up to join the squad. Then after I disappeared Abbie helped create The Comets, a teen cheer squad @SLCS.
Now in 2022, Abbie doesn’t like to talk about SLCS. She felt the Comets were starting to overshadow the adult squad and peeps were upset with her about that. They wanted to send her to “Cheer Court”. So she left.
During my long hiatus I’d think about Abbie sometimes and wonder how she was doing. I’d think about SLCS and wonder if I’d ever have the nerve to crawl back.
Now I’m cheering with SLCS again. And I got to see Abbie again. It’s all so great. And yet I’m sad that I can’t have them both together like we once were in some ancient dream.
I’ve worn many hats and tried on many identities as an avatar. I’ve been young and I’ve been old. Skinny and full-figured. Black and white. And red and green. A cheerleader and a derby girl. A barista and a host. I’ve seen so much love and beauty, so much desire, so much hunger for love and connection in the virtual world. I’ve seen that hunger and need expressed in unhelpful and destructive ways. Ways that can make living in this world as frustrating as living in the first life we came from. I’m touched by the tiny acts of kindness that surround us every day. If we can make it here, we can make it anywhere.
