Goodbye Premium

By Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich)

After years of being a premium Second Life member (over half a decade), I’ve decided to downgrade and at the end of December I will no longer be able to enjoy the “premium” perks that this service offers. So why did I do it? There are actually multiple reasons. Back when I first started paying for premium membership, things were different in my life. I was a sim co-owner. I was logging on every day to manage a community. I had a group of friends in said community that I hung out with on a daily basis. I was just more invested in the platform. Even when that community left Second Life, I rather quickly found myself in a new community that I could call home and became more and more involved in that community as a leader.

All good things must end however and I ended up leaving that community for personal reasons. This time, I didn’t find a new community or place to call home. For the past year, Second Life to me has been a largely quiet place for me. I spend most of my time in a rented parcel, admittedly jaded from my past experiences in Second Life communities and not believing things would be different if I started over somewhere else. I came to realize that the major driver behind why I loved Second Life so much was the community and social interaction, and I don’t get that anymore.

So when the bill for my premium membership came around this month, I took a hard look at it. For one, I don't remember it being so expensive. Over thirty dollars a quarter means over $100 a year. Even though there had been news of Second Life switching up their pricing, I had largely ignored it until now. However, this time I took a good long look at just exactly what I was getting for my money. 

One of the premium perks which Second Life touts with their premium membership offer is their Second Life homes. I rarely use mine and prefer to rent a place on a less laggy sim. Another perk is the ability to set your home location to anywhere, which really doesn’t matter to me because I know how to use the places menu in Firestorm. Another perk that I might miss out on is the weekly stipend, which is 300L per week. In actuality, this does help to cover costs with rent and gives me some extra L to do what I want with, but is it worth over $100 a year? No. One of the features that I’ll lose that may end up biting me in the butt later is the ability to gain priority in to teleporting in to nearly full sims during major events, but does this matter to me enough to pay for premium? Again, no. What about prioritized account support if something were to go wrong or if I was wrongfully banned? I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to contact customer support at one point and gave up. It’s extremely hidden. I also didn’t own any land aside from my Second Life home. The other perks are just inconsequential at best. So then why am I paying for the service?

There just isn’t any major reason for myself to justify the premium membership. It’s probably still a good idea for those who own land (you need the service to do so after all) or otherwise run a community, but to the average user there is just no justification to pay over $100 a year for a trickle of features that really don’t matter. You can rent a parcel for fairly cheap and buy Lindens when you need it and end up spending less than $100 a year if you’re careful.

Cyfir

Pixel to Pixel Closes: Statement From the Group

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
- From Ecclesiastes 3, but also from a very good Byrd's song from 1965.

The Bible causes strong emotional reactions in people, from those who fervently believe it is the divine Word of God to those who think it the most dangerous fraud ever perpetrated on humankind.  But no matter where you find yourself on that continuum, within the chapters and verses and poetry of the script can be found great truths.  Ecclesiastes 3 gives us one of those truths:  For every thing there is a season.  It goes on to list what seems to be an exhaustive list to support the idea, but there is one repeated theme throughout; everything has a beginning and an end.

It started with a need.  Jadyn Firehawk, herself a fairly new arrival to Second Life and inspired by the group, Virtual Ability, recognized a feature of the world that a lot of us missed - she saw the opportunity for those with disabilities to live a meaningful virtual life in ways they could not anywhere else.  She saw a chance for millions of people in the world to live and walk and laugh and love and....function...without their supposed disability being a factor in their relationships with others.

But Jadyn the dreamer is also Jadyn the realist, and she recognized that many of those same individuals who could benefit so greatly from what SL had to offer also often had RL limitations to resources.  There was nothing she could do for those with no access to the internet or a computer, but there was something she could do for those with access but limited financial resources to fully enjoy a regular life in Second Life.

Many of us know the Serenity Prayer and its plea to a Higher Power to help us know the difference between what we can change and what we cannot.  Though perhaps inspired by that, to our great blessing she didn't take it to heart.  No, her actions are better described by the words of Edward Everett Hale:  "I am but one, but I AM one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something, and I will not let what I cannot do interfere with doing what I can do."

So, Jadyn founded the Pixel To Pixel Foundation to provide a weekly stipend for those with disabilities so that they could enjoy a more complete Second Life.  The dream became action, and the action became perseverance, and the perseverance became a foundation that worked with a network of compassionate donors and a list of grateful recipients who were able to update their avatars and purchase things to make their lives a little better and, in many cases, purchase things that they could use to create.  Jadyn created a gallery so that those who created artwork would have a place to sell their art...to earn their living in SL.  Through Jadyn's hard work, aided by individuals who believed in her vision and gave of themselves, she was able to grow P2P so that it was able to provide support to dozens of people and hundreds of stipends over the years.

It was not always easy.  There was a constant need for fund raising, and always, always, more people who needed help than could be provided for.  It was sometimes heartbreaking, but over the years, with dogged determination and unmatched fortitude, Jadyn pushed on.

It has taken a toll.  Nine years of constant fund raising drives, nine years of pouring over applications for aid, nine years of the joy of being able to help and the sorrow of not being able to help everyone.  It takes a toll.

And that brings us back to Ecclesiastes.  There is a time to begin, and there is a time to end.  The time for this great and marvelous and selfless act of compassion to come to an end has arrived.  The decision was not an easy one, and it was not taken lightly.  Something you may or may not know about Jadyn, she has her own disability.  She has struggled with it even as she provided for others.  But the scale has tipped, and it is time for Jadyn to take care of herself.

Now, this isn't going to happen all at once.  There are resources available to continue making stipend payments until the first week of January and those payments will be made.  But effective December 1st we will no longer be soliciting donations and we will be shutting down the donation kiosks that can be found scattered around Second Life.  We ask that those who use personal giving boxes deactivate them by taking them up into inventory.  Any excess funds we might have as of January 4th, 2019, will be donated to Virtual Ability, SL's main disability support group.

Of course there will be questions and concerns and grief.   There will be temptation to direct such things to Jadyn, but we ask that all such be directed to me (Sandi Glas) for now.

In closing, we want to thank our generous donors, sponsors and volunteers who have made this nine year journey possible and express our love for those who were recipients of that generosity.

With all our love and affection,
The P2P staff.

* * * * *

A heartfelt thank you to Sandi Glas for helping me to make my very difficult decision to close down the P2P Foundation. She's been an indispensable sounding board for me over the past several months, as well as having been a valued supporter over the years in a number of ways. Thank you, Sandi.

Jadyn Firehawk

Pictures from the Newser

My Last Article For SL Newser

By Wesley Regenbogen,

Dear readers and SL Newser staff,

I joined Second Life Newser in July 2014 after searching for a virtual newspaper to write for in Second Life.

My virtual journalism career started around the year 2000, when I was member of a virtual world called Cybertown.com ( it doesn’t exist anymore nowadays ). At the time I saw an ad where they were looking for writers at CVN ( Cybertown Virtual News ). I decided to send in an article that I wrote and I thought by myself “here goes nothing.” But after a while, the editor emailed me back that the article was good enough for publication. I must admit that I was a bit blown away by the fact that my article was accepted anyhow.

But in the year 2003, the Cybertown.com virtual world had new owners and they decided to make it a subscription based website. I decided to leave CVN and thus the virtual world of Cybertown.com. After that I wandered around the web in search of other virtual worlds like Cybertown.com, but I found none that gave me the same “feeling.” Until in November 2006, I saw a video about Second Life and decided to join in and created my account.

After a few years of learning the basics of Second Life, I found out that SL Newspaper, owned by James T. Juno, was looking for writers. I then made the decision to join his team and write articles for them. But I lost interest in Second Life a while after that and decided to leave Second Life for a while. I briefly came back in 2012, but I didn’t find any virtual newspaper again and I learned that SL Newspaper was no longer existing. 

In July 2014, I found out that SL Newser, owned by Bixyl Shuftan, was writing about Second Life. I decided to join them and I have been writing for them ever since, until now.

Today ( December 13 th, 2017 ) I wrote my goodbye article and I will move on. I hope this career switch will be a good one, we will see what happens.

I would like to thank the crew of SL Newser, and especially Bixyl Shuftan, for letting me part of their team and write with them. I sincerely greet you, the readers, for reading my articles and enjoying the things I have written about.

So, I say farewell to SL Newser and I hope that the virtual newspaper SL Newser will continue to grow and will expand in the near future.

Yours truly,

Wesley Regenbogen

Going Out With A Bang: Madpea Blows Up UNIA Game Area

By Bixyl Shuftan

For about a year and a half, fans of Madpea could play UNIA, an inworld horror game that bedeviled those trying to get through the grounds and it's various monsters such as zombie chickens. Originally slated to close on July 31st, the end was postponed until Halloween, October 31st, with those who hadn't tried it yet offered the gaming HUD for 1 Linden dollar, "With many fond memories of zombie chickens, killer scarecrows and mad cows, it will be sad to see the doors finally close on what was Second Life’s biggest game.  But as we say goodbye to what was the biggest game in Second Life, we also can’t wait to tell you what’s coming next!"

But instead of just simply shutting down, Kiana Writer and her Madpeas decided to make it's end a public event: blowing up the sim in front of everyone who wanted to watch, "Let it rain zombie chickens and dead mad cows.... bring your weapons.. and come over to see how one of the most loved games in the SL history will burn to the ground and only live in our memories!"

Heading over to Madpea Base, and getting to the group of people near the entrance of a drive-in, we found ourselves under assault by zombies, the nearby buildings on fire, and a few cow carcasses nearby. Not far away was a huuuuuge glowing giant chicken. On the drive-in entrance was a countdown clock, with the song "It's the Final Countdown" playing in the last minute. When it reached zero, heck broke loose with buildings falling apart, trees flying through the air, and the sim flooding. To get out of the water, we had to hop on or sit on the drive-in entrance. From there, we saw the place continue to blow up, as more songs like "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" and "It's the End of the World As We Know It" played.

There were more than a few comments about the end. One remarked, "Unia, I was here when you took your first breath, and I'm here as you take your last." Another commented he had been gaming at the last minute to get one item that eluded him, "Doesn't matter that world ends and angry zombie chases me, I need to get that item. it fits with my socks."

Madpea hasn't stated yet what game will take UNIA's place, but no doubt it's fans will be anxiously waiting.

Bixyl Shuftan.

Massivley, WoW Insider, And Other Joystiq.com Websites To Close

By Bixyl Shuftan

Some sad news for gaming fans. Joystiq.com, the website that's the home of several caomputer gaming and computer websites, such as "Massively" and "WoW Insider," will be closing. Their final day of operations will be February 3, 2015. Joystiq was founded in 2004 as part of Weblogs, which was bought by AOL in 2005. It was AOL's primary gaming website, discussing MMOs and once in a while Second Life. It has been nominated for several awards for blogs of it's category and has been included in listings such as Forbes.com "Best of the Web."

Recode.net gave the reason as "part of an extensive house-cleaning of it's underperforming content properties." Editor in Chief Brianna Royce commented, "I would like to tell you truthfully that this is an equitable and just decision that makes some sort of logical sense, but the reality is that our overlords' decisions have always been unfathomable. ... a year ago ... a VP whose name I don't even know and who never read our site chose to reward our staggering hard-won 40% year-over-year page view growth by ... hacking our budget in half. There's nothing to do in the face of that kind of logic but throw your hands in the air." Royce had worked as the head editor at Massively for almost five years, "I came here as a geeky copyeditor, and am leaving with a fleet of good friends and a much deeper understanding of how and why my favorite genre runs the way it does, and it will forever influence how I play games and whose games I buy."

The closing comes just after hearing about the tragic news of their former editor Andrew Yoon drowning. He was 29.

Joystiq once had it's own Second Life newsletter, "Second Life Insider." Eventually, the staff was absorbed into Massively. Ciaran Laval on her blog stated when some gamers complained, they answered, "Maintaining editorial balance surrounding all of the many, varied games we cover is an ongoing proccess, and we've selected a suite of 'core games' based on many factors including subscriber/member numbers, overallbuzz and mindshare in the industry, and input from a secret algorithm I would love to call 'interestingness' if it weren't already taken. We are proud to offer in-depth Second Life coverage as one of those core current titles." Ciaran commented, "generally gaming magazines look down on Second Life. Massively ... most definitely did not look down on Second Life." The output did slow down over the years, especially after Tateru Nino stopped writing for them, but they never stopped entirely.

It's expected that the years of archived stories will remain online, at least for a while.

Ciaran concluded, "With a resurgence in virtual worlds likely ... having sites that will happily include that content in areas where such content may not be initially popular is important. Getting the concept of virtual worlds to a wider audience is very important. ... Joystiq played an important role in this the first time around. It will be a shame if they aren't playing a role when the new wave hits."

Sources: Redcode, Ciaran Laval, Massively.com, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

Farewell, Silver Fire

By Wesley Regenbogen

In October 2014, I decided to own a virtual horse in Second Life. I wrote a few articles on virtual horse riding and I “horsed around” a bit. I also rented a horse box for many months.

At first it was all a bit new to me, but Hope Driftwood, whom I gotten the virtual horse from, guided me along the way and supported me with everything concerning the rideable pet.

Thanks to her, I learned how to ride my virtual horse. At first I thought : “ Oh God, riding the horse with my avatar will be hard.” But I must admit, it’s not difficult at all. Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite easy to ride your virtual horse.

Providing your virtual horse with food, Amaretto food, because it’s a Amaretto horse that I had, is done at the Amaretto Main Store in Second Life. You just need to know which one to buy and buy, Salt Lick (for the horse's happiness level) and Breedable Food as well. Renting the virtual horse box costs L$ 800/month and the food costs L$ 144 and L$ 158. Hope Driftwood is a very nice person, who has always helped me out with the virtual horse thing.

Sadly, on January 3^rd 2015 I decided to stop doing the virtual horse thing. I had to make this decision, because I have a land rental to pay in Second Life as well. So this is the “farewell” article for my former virtual horse called “Silver Fire”. If you want a virtual horse, you can contact Hope Driftwood in-world. She will tell you all about it. I would like to thank her a million times for her help.

To “Silver Fire” I say : “Thank you for being my virtual horse. I wave you farewell now and I hope another owner will give you a nice virtual life in Second Life”.

I think I made the right decision and I hope that “Silver Fire” finds a good owner once again.

Farewell, “Silver Fire” and may virtual life be well for you in the future.

Wesley Regenbogen

What Happened to 7Seas' Meissa Thorne?

In late May, 7Seas threw it's twice a year "Fishiversary," and their builders and other staff were there to celebrate along with the fishers. But one of the team was not there: Meissa Thorne. The lady whom had once contributed much to the fishing game beloved by many Second Life residents, such as SL Newser reporter Gemma Cleanslate, was gone from the Grid. Her profile page was blank, save for the name and rezz date. There was only an occasional texture at various Fishiversary exhibits to remind people of her.

The Newser came across a rumor that she had some trouble with the IRS and Linden Lab had been pressured by them to ban her. I decided to check things out with the 7Seas team to get the story about what really happened. I got in contact with Jen Shikami, and she was willing to explain what happened.

As it turned out, Meissa had no trouble with the IRS, "she wasn't having any problems, Jen explained, "we all pay taxes on our SL money nice and legal-like. Instead, this is actually about LL's new identification policy. So it was in February that they started asking for her ID and SSN." She had provided them the information before, but through a third party, Aristotle Systems, "In this case they wanted her to actually send all this info, including a copy of her driver's license, in their helpdesk ticket system, which... well, in terms of privacy, it's reasonable for her to have concerns about whether it will remain secure. She would have been fine with sending the information if it were through some system she'd considered sufficiently trustworthy. But considering how many months we've seen it take for LL to address basic system-wide security issues in the past, I can see why she'd have some concerns."

"The other weird thing is that as you see in that FAQ, they're saying U.S. law requires this 'for users that submit a certain volume and/or amount of Process Credit requests in a year.' But this was February, and the policy was just announced a few months prior. In the prior version of this FAQ they specifically cited the Patriot Act and the IRS limits, but her process credit requests weren't near either of those limits. Odd. So between asking for clarification on that point and asking if there's some more secure way to send this information, perhaps through a third party like Aristotle last time... all we got back was boilerplate responses and repeated links to the same FAQ."  

Meissa offered a third option for the Lab if they were so concerned about legal details, "She also tried requesting to simply never transact $L again, but they wouldn't accept that either. ... Our concern was that if they deleted her account, it could cripple 7Seas, since she created so many of our objects and servers. We've worked around that, but at the time that was a real concern. Plus, honestly, why should she have to go? Why not just stop transacting if that's their real concern? The thing is, they're blaming this on U.S. law, but this doesn't appear to be consistent with U.S. law. If they just said 'This is LL's new policy, because we said so,' then actually that would be well within their rights. I mean, I wouldn't agree, but it's within their rights. But blaming it on apparently inapplicable U.S. laws seems like a cop-out. And sure, maybe I'm misinterpreting them... I'm not a lawyer... but it's not like we got any other explanations either."

With Linden Lab refusing to bend, they began to prepare for her exit, "Well, my last-ditch effort was to talk to the concierge. Though usually they only allow account transfers when the other person is dead and names you as controlling their estate, they have done account transfers before without any fatalities, apparently. So I was trying to gain ownership of her account, since I was already ID-verified, and it's for my business anyway," Jen is the main IP holder fot 7Seas, "But they wouldn't do that either. I decided not to bother lawyering up."

Meissa herself helped her friends prepare for her leaving, "To work around it, she very generously spent the last couple weeks of her existence there transferring as many objects as possible to me. Seven reviewed our code and it'll all work for now as long as her server is still rezzed. If we have to later, we can replace it by cobbling together the parts and contents from my inventory. All the objects she had legal right to transfer, of course. There are builders kits that don't allow that, but I just bought most of those if they seemed relevant. So now I'm just paying her her cut using real life U.S. dollars. It's more like royalties really, I suppose. As thanks for her prior role."

I brought up the "credit requests" again. Jen told me, "She was just withdrawing every couple weeks. The original info LL sent out listed some dollar or quantity threshholds and she was nowhere near them. Not that she was the only one affected -- sounds like lots of people got the same request. Like I said, it's within their rights even without claiming it's required by U.S. law. Not about to deny that. But it is a great example of poor customer service. Giving someone a deadline and then not responding to questions about it, or responding only with irrelevant boilerplate.... that doesn't help. And why not tell people 'To continue conducting transactions in SL, you must ID verify'? Why threaten deletion?  Because I'm real sure that nowhere in the Patriot Act does it say 'Delete people's accounts.' If this is related to some law, they should be able to actually explain that in a way that helps their customers believe this is both truly necessary as well as truly secure. If they can't reassure people of both those things, they aren't going to get positive responses."

Was there any chance of Meissa getting her old account back? Jen felt there wasn't one, "Not unless she forks over ID, and their handling of this whole thing has not made that increasingly likely. We support her right to draw a line there. for sure. And now I'm seriously wondering if it was a mistake to give them my own ID. I mean, think about this -- I do eBay auctions. I send money through PayPal. I sell through Amazon.com. None of them have required me to send them plaintext SSN or a copy of my ID. Which you'd think would happen if this were truly some universal constant of U.S. law -- see what I'm saying? So really, I just have to raise an eyebrow. Of course LL says they keep that very secure and so on. But they are ultimately asking for a leap of faith in response to answers that didn't feel like answers."

A case of "We're Linden Lab, trust us?" I asked. Jen answered, "We only got the 'trust us' response when I managed to get a sympathetic person on the phone. e's the one who said it should be possible to get the account transferred. It's certainly allowable within the ToS since it says you can do it with written permission from LL. o I requested that permission, explained why, pointed out that we have over 100,000 fishers who might miss 7Seas if this really ruined things. And... no. Not even an extension. So there was very little time between when we realized they weren't giving substantive answers, and the end there."

"Considering the number of people who use 7Seas," I suggested, one would think they'd be more willing to negotiate." Jen answered, "I really didn't want to play the 'Do you know who we are?!' card. Because that's kind of unreasonable, and like I said, it's within their rights to require this of their own volition. But I did want to make sure they understood what this could potentially mean. And that it's not just because she's somehow being too stubborn. Privacy concerns and identity security concerns are totally reasonable, and with this online customer base, they need to be very aware of that. We're pretty open about our RL identities and filing taxes and so on, but I'm sure there are plenty in SL who wouldn't even be comfortable with that. Remember the fuss about age verification? Ultimately, many of the people who agreed to do it only did so because it was through a third party with a reputation for strong information security. That's a totally different scenario than 'Just email us this.'"

"Anyway, that's the scoop on what really happened." Jen told me, "Sure, she could have just said yes and it would've been more convenient for everyone, but I think she actually did the right thing. If they want creators to feel welcome in SL, you can't just give them form-letter threats of account deletion without some clear explanations and rationale beyond 'uh U.S. law do it or else.' I am sure this is all LL's lawyers telling them to handle this in a certain way for risk management reasons. But it's remarkably inflexible. And clearly the folks who knew they'd have to use a third-party like Aristotle for identity verification before... those folks must be gone now. There's so much turnover at LL... that doesn't help assurances of 'Oh we keep this very secure.'"

"I remember when I went to SLCC and half the Lindens I met there had just been fired," Jen talked about her trip in 2010, "It was all terribly awkward, since they already had plane tickets and hotel rooms."

"As for 7Seas... (Meissa) has been our most active team builder for the past few years. Motherhood has cut into my free time, plus my RL job and so on. But I want to be sure the community doesn't feel abandoned, so I have some new plans for what to work on for them next (smile). ... Meanwhile I'm training Sass and some of my builder friends... maybe we'll have more help again soon. Lots of folks have offered but really, I like to work with people I know in RL. More accountability that way."

It was about this time the interview ended, and we went our seperate ways, though before parting, she handed me one of the cardboard cutouts of Meissa. One way of saying she might be gone, but not forgotten.

Bixyl Shuftan

Castawave Cove's Comeback

Among the clubs at the FCA club alliance, Castaway Cove hasn't been used much lately. Cutlass, Club Zero Gravity, The Cocktail Lounge, and the Happy Vixen all have regularly scheduled events. But with a number of DJs getting caught up in real life, one club, Castawave Cove, despite it's unique design of a beach club between two halves of a shipwreck, was getting only occasional events. People came by to hang out to play it's games, or shop at the vendors there. But parties there were irregular.


Finally on the evening of May 14th, Nydia Tungsten, the owner of Castaway Cove, made an announcement. The club would be closing. But there would be one last party there. DJ "Purple Puppy" L'sai would be playing the music. And true to her nickname "Naughty Nydia," the vixen decided to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with a nude party with a huge prize on it's "Last Hurrah."


Castaway cove is having it's final party tonight, come dance the night away as the original purple puppy DJ L'sai spins her tunes for us, but we aren't going out with a whimper but with a BANG! $3000 L's will be up for grabs at this final Naked nite. Your'e all invited. Starts at 6 pm SLT. SEE YA HERE!!

And as 6PM approached, people headed over to the Kalmeere Paradise sim and dropped in at the club, a collection of over two dozen human, neko, and furry avatars. Many went "au natural" for a chance at the Lindens. But others kept on a swimsuit, not really competing for the prize but just coming for a good time and to see the club one last time. People sent requests to L'sai, both popular tunes and some parodies by Second Life musicians SonicBlu Darkfold, and a few riskee tunes from Corsi Mousehold.

During the party, Nydia gave an explanation for the club's closure, "Many have asked why we are closing. Well here it is. Castaway Cove was created to create a draw to a new sim, to generate interest. Well it has done its job. the Sim owner needs to start renting this land, so we will be closing. But not forever who know what lies over the horizon. I just hope you have all enjoyed our run, and if your'e interested in the land, just send me an IM. Just remember to party as if it is your last, because some day it just might be 'Eat drink and be merry for tomorow we lose our club!' "

For two hours, the party went on. Then the 3,000 prize was voted on, and then given out. But this wasn't the final word on the club. The following day, Nydia had the following announcement:


We're Back! … We had a blast last night, and we partied into the night. Every one was sad to see the club go but not as much as Skylark Lefavre. Due to her most generous offer, Castaway Cove will be around for quite some time. So if you see her, thank her for being our clubs benefactor.


And so, the pirate club continues. Word is, there will be some Primtionary game events at the sim again soon. For anyone interested in managing or DJing at the club, contact Nydia Tungsten.

Bixyl Shuftan

Poetry - Christmas Notes to a Once Husband

Pale sun
lights the waning December afternoon,
presents bought, but still unwrapped...

The house is for sale,
by either the bank or the tax man...

Your oldest girl just turned 35...

I know you never liked the season,
in fact, you were Mr. Bah Humbug himself...
we suffered somewhat from that.

My children and I are all together this holiday season,
it has been a long time...

You will be missed by some,
others, not

My hope is, that wherever your soul is
You will at last enjoy this season
of good tidings and good will
and accept it for what it is

Rest in peace my once husband.

Shellie Sands