bad things have happened there. i can't deny that. but at least i know what i'm up against. i don't have to stare at this black hole of my own life and swallow the bile and the fear. there are known dangers. i dealt with them in the past, i can deal with them now.
very wise friends of mine tell me that i need to make my own "family", that i have so many people online who care very much about me. and i know that is true. i have p, the true mother of my heart. d who opened her door to me and gave me a home. s who is my online grandpa. but still they are not really family. not in the traditional sense, and not in my mind. people who i love very much, yes, but how can you consider people you have never met in real life "family"?
and i have already learned that in this online world, people come and go. names appear and disappear from my inbox. people get busy. move on. forget. i seem to not be able to let go. i am afraid of being let go of. i am terrified of being dropped yet again.
so i want to run home. to the family who identifies itself as such. to the family who considers me a part of it, if only for the sake of appearances. i want to belong somewhere. i am tired of being a stray.
![[trouble]](http://shattering.tripod.com/animals/skorch/skorch21.jpg)
i woke up sometime this morning lying on my back with him curled in a little ball of gray fluff on my chest. i have terrible nightmares, and it was somehow comforting and terrifying both to wake up with him there. i still don't trust him completely, trust his touch completely. it feels silly to say that, but i am extremely distrustful of touch, and even though he is a kitten, it is still touch.
![[me and sam]](/journal/images/meandsam.jpg)
(and thanks to skorch for the cool background)