I am alone.

"You are not alone," they say. What they probably mean is "There are people around you who care about you, who love you, who would be sad to know you are in pain." In that, I do understand that I'm not alone. I understand there are people who care.

Now imagine you were transported to China, inexplicably, suddenly, decisively. You have no advance warning and no way of getting back home. You are trapped in a country where you do not speak the native language and most natives do not speak your language.

(if you speak Chinese, replace China with some other country whose primary language is one you aren't fluent in)

That's how I feel: woefully misunderstood by everyone. The few people who sort of understand me can only get so far. I know they care about me, but I feel alone because we have such incredible difficulty communicating.

(I do know that communication is a two-way thing, and I try my hardest every day. Maybe it's all my fault. It probably is. But I'm trying my hardest.)

I don't really know where I'm going with this.... I'm just tired, and angry, and sad, and scared....

What exactly happened?

I think that if I were in that situation I'd be absolutely thrilled. Well, other than missing my daughter.

Hey, antipode, if you wanna talk to someone about your feelings, go ahead and send me a private message. I may not be able to help, but I'll do my best.

I know that feeling, alright.

What brought it on for you?

I hope nothing has happened to them. That was their only recorded post with their last site edit back in 2016.