Goodbye to my Friends (corrected) at DL. CODA!

Thanks, Joe.

Now to play my role as R1:

Go to hell, you cunt!

I'll see you in another life brother. ❤️

Joe and Mark, I think about you a lot and hope that you still have good days ahead of you. When the time comes, go forward without fear.

Joe and Mark, I don’t know what to say except what R3 said. Hoping the ensuing days are peaceful for you. ❤️

Peace to you. ❤️

Much love to you both.

If you can come back, we'd love to hear from you, but if you can't, we also understand. My love to both you and Mark.

I’m here Joe, we all are. We wish you so much love, and peace. You both are courageous, I will not forget you. We’re here til your last breath, and we ‘ll be here for Mark, too.

Sending you much love, Joe and Mark. May your remaining time together be filled with love and peace.

You two should go see Lea in Funny Girl. I hear she's fabulous. Maybe you can get her to come sing at the memorial. If she can't, I bet Beanie is available.

❤️💋

It has been an absolute pleasure. Easy and peaceful exit my friend.

My cat just preceded you, please tell that fat bitch she broke me.

Sending best wishes to you both!

I am sending you and Mark the biggest hug I can. I am wishing you both peace and love as always. I lost my Mom, brother, and sister within less than a year. I don't know you but your situation is hitting me just as hard! I am hoping your journey is peaceful and gentle and that Mark is comforted as much as possible.

We make memories throughout our lives for moments like this. They are something to wrap yourself in at difficult times. This will be the most difficult for both of you.

Good luck on the journey. We’ll be with you all the way.

I lost my sister to this, so I've been following your journey. Don't be scared, she's there waiting for you. Tell her hi and give her a hug for me. Miss you Lynnie! You are going with lots of love. Hugs to you, my friend.

Much love to you both from across the pond.

Rest easy

I dedicate this song to you!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Godspeed, buddy!!!⭐️✨⭐️

Love to you Joe and Mark ❤️

Hope it goes nicely for you Joe.

You have a hot ass 😭

Who has had a longer farewell tour? Elton, Cher, or JOE?

like Cher's retirement ....

Wow. R23 ....

Thinking of you.

Love from Alameda, thinking of you.

Should you get to the next world before Xmas, can you nudge things along so one of two Brit home nations (Wales & England) get to the World Cup final?

Cheers ta Love, peace and love and all that, see yer in the next life and have a good one, yeah? xxxx

Big love to you, Joe and Mark. Thank you for sharing your story here. I know it couldn't have been easy. You've given me hope that I'll find my man someday. Hugs.

Goodbye to you

Goodbye to everything I thought I knew

You were the one I lo-hoved

The one thing that I tried to hold onto.

All love to you Joe, and to Mark. As said upthread, we will be here for him, if only in spirit. Thank you for sharing your story here with us, you've touched people more than you realize. It's moved me to reflect and take careful stock of my life, recently.

Godspeed. Continue to post as you can.

Love to you and Mark. From Texas.

Love and peace to both of you.

Sending so much love. May you experience the absolute bliss of leaving your body and flying free.

Though we need to weep your loss, You dwell in that safe place in our hearts Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn Brightening over our lives, Awakening beneath the dark A further adventure of color.

The sound of your voice Found for us A new music That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze Quickened in the joy of its being; You placed smiles like flowers On the alter of the heart, Your mind always sparkled With the wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief, Your spirit was alive, awake, complete.

We look toward each other no longer From the old distance of our names; Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath, As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes, We know our souls gaze is upon your face, Smiling back at us from within everything To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory, Where we would grow lonely without you. You would want us to find you in presence, Besides us when beauty brightens, When kindness glows And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth, Darkest winter has turned to spring; May this dark grief flower with hope In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us: To enter each day with a generous heart. To serve the call of courage and love Until we see your beautiful face again In that land where there is no more separation, Where all tears will be wiped from our mind, And where we will never lose you again.

By John O’Donohue

I hope you have a peaceful transition, dear Joe.

Joe, love to you and Mark, I will be thinking of you this Thanksgiving, thanking the Universe for being a part of your beautiful story and supporting your peaceful transition. You have a special place in my heart.

That which is divine in me bows to that which is divine in you. 💖

Goodbye sweet Joe.

What a pleasure the last few months have been for all of us as we got to know you and Mark and your lives together.

Be well as you carry on.

Can someone give a Cliffs Notes version of what this is about?

I still can hear your breathing As if you'd never gone away I still can feel your touch, your tenderness As if you were still there There is no sense in crying Only liquid running from my eyes And all the feelings I restrain Are the remainders that survived Don't you worry, they won't find my body I want you to know I found Peace in another world Don't keep digging, I want you to leave Back away from the place Where my ashes are buried

Best to you both.

"There is no crueler place than that vile pit of trollery" - except when it isn't.

DL always looks out for it's own.

"Can someone give a Cliffs Notes version of what this is about?"

Joe is a longtime Datalounger. Married to Mark. He's in the very final stage of cancer. He has obtained (legal) drugs to end things on his own terms when he feels the time is right. Last report from him was that he has been in a lot of pain, and the drugs leave him confused -but the time is nearing. The correction in the thread title is that there was a typo in the previous thread, "Goodby to my Fiends at DL."

Overwhelmingly, posters support Joe and Mark and wish them well, but there are a few trolls who insist the whole thing is fake/EST post.

Pardon me miss but with all due respect, I have problems of my own.

I know a girl who post a farewell on this site. AND THEN SHE DIED!

This is heartbreaking.

Ok that was not what I was expecting, but thank you r41

I can't imagine going through this. So sad.

Come sit by me, R23. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer the doctors said she'd be gone in a matter of weeks, but she hung on for about 18 months. When the holidays rolled around again, I started referring to the season as "The 2nd Annual Mom's Last Christmas." My siblings were not amused.

Joe, I hope you found some solace here over the past few months, and also some laughs. I'm grateful for you sharing your experience with us. I won't forget it, or you. We'll be here for Mark as best we can.

I actually find this heartwarming in a way. Joe is having the best death you can really hope for. He is with Mark, the one he loves the most. He is taking painkillers as needed as well as whatever he wants. Chatting with friends and fiends when he is up to it. Joe is taking the end of his life literally in his own hands. Not tied to tubes and miserable for what *might* be some extra time.

Love to you, Joe and Mark.

Sending all my love to you, Joe and Mark. ❤️ Joe, from my heart, I thank you for allowing us to hear your beautiful story. The world is better for having had you in it.

Tell Mark that even though he won't be able to see or hear you you will be able to see and hear him. You will always be watching over him. Even if you don't believe this now you will see when you cross over.......... You are leaving behind a great gift to all those around you.

Joe and Mark, here is a piece of music that you might give you ease. It’s a poem sung by a Cambridge choral group a cappella and well, it soothes babies to sleep. It’s truly beautiful. The title is Only In Sleep. I’ve included the lyrics because they’re a bit hard to decipher.

"Only in sleep I see their faces,

Children I played with when I was a child,

Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,

Annie with ringlets warm and wild.

Only in sleep Time is forgotten —

What may have come to them, who can know?

Yet we played last night as long ago,

And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.

The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,

I met their eyes and found them mild —

Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,

And for them am I too a child?"

I posted this over on the other thread, but I'll bring it here too with a different clip.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Go out Rockin' Joe.

Peace to you, Joe.

I guess sharing your blog is out of the question. Goodbye, Joe; we hardly knew ye.

Sending love and peace, Joe.

Sending you love Joe X

Joe and Mark, you are loved.

Question for the trolls: Okay, let's play a game of what if. What if Joe is an EST?

So what?

We cry at movies and books, even songs, when we know they're fiction, because we care about the fictional characters. Seeing them struggle with mortality helps us with our own struggles. Watching them bravely face death prepare us for when our time comes. Caring about others allows us to care about ourselves, to face our own fears.

I think Joe and Mark are real. But I don't care whether they are or not. They are bringing out love and caring in a community that's in need of comfort and courage. People are comforting one another here. People are telling each other that no matter who has hurt them in the past, they are loved and uplifted by people they have never even met.

I don't know how or why that bothers some people. I have to assume that the trolls are just afraid -- afraid of being vulnerable again, afraid of being fooled again, afraid of facing death, maybe without a Mark to hold their hand. So I send my love out to the doubters too.

Exactly R57! I couldn't have said it any better. I don't care if they're real either, the feelings they've elicited are real and for people who enjoy pointless bitchery, this is a good thing. It's brought out our caring side and that's a good thing.

Not giving up on the blog! Only when you are ready of course Mark, as I assume it will fall to it being your job to get it sorted. Very much hoping you both decide to do so. We have lost so must history. This would be invaluable.

No pressure :)

What is an EST?

r60 Extra Sexual Terrestrial, Rose

Best wishes to you, Joe.

R60 elaborate scenario troll, which basically means what it sounds like

Once again Rob and I send you our best wishes from The Land Downunder.

I thought Muriel banned the use of that term in r60's question - both the acronym and the full version.

Thank you for sharing your story and your life with Mark, Joe. It can’t have been easy to open up and be vulnerable, but I’m glad you did, especially as a longtime Datalounger.

We will remember you, friend. ❤️ Peace be with you.

All the love in the world to Joe and Mark.

Love and peace to Joe and Mark, from this solitary old curmudgeon whose icy heart was warmed by your love and devotion to each other. So much love.

You should invite Lorna to sing at the memorial.

We’re here to the end with you, Joe!

I like blue

Wishing you both peace and comfort today Joe! --Warmly, your neighbor to the south.💞

P.S. Joe I think you may have inadvertently started a new worldwide trend! We will see

Goodbye Joe. We are here with you. You gotta have friends…and you do.

R57, pretty sure the troll is someone who started their own EST which didn't go very far, and he got mad about it. I wouldn't put too much thought into it, sometimes a troll is just a troll.

Rip Van Winkle at r65, Muriel banned accusations of ESTs back in 2009, and gave up enforcing that ban within a few months. You're saying you haven't seen anyone call a post an EST in 13 years? Weird.

Joe doesn't seem like an EST in the slightest, and it doesn't really matter if it is, because it's not causing any harm or strife on here.

I love you, Joe. May your journey be easy.

I'm holding you in my heart Joe. May you - may we all - discover a luminous and miraculous world beyond this sordid and baffling one.

xxoo

That's right R78, energy doesn't die, it just transfers.

Peace, Joe.

If I don’t meet you no more in this world, I’ll meet you in the next one, and don’t be late. 💙

[quote]Rip Van Winkle at [R65], Muriel banned accusations of ESTs back in 2009, and gave up enforcing that ban within a few months. You're saying you haven't seen anyone call a post an EST in 13 years? Weird.

The incidence of actually using "EST" has gone way down. I never really thought about it. Most of the time, people just refer to trolls or trolling. Also, we all got into the habit of substituting other phrases for the specific words.

I mean, Muriel plays by her own rules and always has, so her lack of enforcement has never made that much of an impression.

Joe, imagine the gaggles of bitter eldergays scattered throughout the United States, linked to their counterparts around the world. Their hearts are small, like the heart of the Grinch, but you have helped them grow at least three sizes. Joe, real or not, you have achieved a Christmas miracle.

What exactly has pretend Joe said that is so inspiring and life affirming? The author of this EST is very dumb and unimaginative, with bad taste in music! He has lots of DL accounts and fake personas though. Notice how he repeats the same message to "Joe" from all of them? Sad and stupid. Funny though.

There's no Joe & Mark. There IS a 71 year old gay man who is DYING on this thread. Move it along freak.

You're grotesque.

Big hug to you Joe, wishing you love and peace from Sydney, Australia

May your journey to the undiscovered country begin with peace and love from those around you.

Stealing this bit from Welcome To Night Vale:

We are eternal! We will not last!

Obviously, you know that when you die, the matter that is your matter will just become matter, no article attached. That matter will belong to any number of things. That matter is not you. That matter was never you.

We are eternal! We will not last!

But there is more to you than matter. When you die, you will not disappear until everyone who remembers you, and whose actions are affected – however slightly – by your memory, until all of those people die, and you are completely forgotten.

We are eternal! We will not last!

But even then, you are not gone. Not until all the people who remember and are affected by those people who remembered, and were affected by you, are gone.

We will not last!

But even then, you are not gone. Not until all the people who remember and are affected by those people who remembered, and were affected by those people who…and so on, and so on, and on.

We are eternal!

You will persist, ever so faintly, ever so slightly, on into perpetuity. Long after everything about you no longer matters. Your life is so small. But, in the setting sun of this universe, its shadow is cast down through generation after generation, until it gets blurry and hard to see…but still there. A breath of a wisp of a thread stretching out before you.

We are eternal! But we will not last!

It is nice to see a large part of the community support you and Mark in this transition. Peace be with you, Joe.

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him/her that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let him/her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her/his eyes, that those photons created within her/him constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly.

It was an honor and a joy to meet you Joe. Thank you for sharing your story and for creating such a loving discussion here at DL. I have followed your posts since day 1 and always look forward to see the community coming here to hug and keep you close to our hearts.

See you in the afterlife. Have a peaceful exit, sending an extraordinary amount of love to you and Mark. God bless. 💖💖

I don’t know if this song had been posted on one of the previous threads, but this made me think of you and Mark.

Keep Me In Your Heart by Warren Zevon

Who is "Joe"?

Good morning and a lovely Thanksgiving to both Joe and Mark xx

Happy Thanksgiving Joe. I am thankful for you and your life well lived.

I remember this from Dr Peter Jepson-Young, a Canadian physician who chronicled his journey with AIDS in the 1990s in "The Dr. Peter Diaries" on the CBC, especially the last two sentences:

[quote]I accept and absorb all the strength of the earth to keep my body hard and strong. I accept and absorb all the energy of the sun to keep my mind sharp and bright. I accept and absorb all the life force of the ocean to cleanse my body and bring me life. I accept and absorb all the power of the wind to cleanse my spirit and bring me strength of purpose. I accept and absorb all the mystery of the heavens because I'm a part of that vast unknown. I believe God to be all these elements and the force that unites them. From these elements I have come and to these elements I shall return. But the energy that is me will never be lost.

Joe and Mark, wishing that you are holding close every drop of precious, pure and golden love the two of you have experienced in your lives together, and that today you are holding each other close physically, mentally and emotionally. I am giving thanks today to have been privy to your wonderful love story and know that the two of you will go on in spirit together today and for the rest of all days. Thank you for sharing with us. We love you.

r95, that was exceedingly beautiful.

95…Gosh, thank you. ♥️

Is this an awkward time to ask about your stuff?

Love you Joe and praying for you and Mark.

Joe, It has stayed with me for 30 years, and R89's comment reminded me of it. I hope it brings you some comfort. You will always be part of the cosmos.

I remember Dr. Peter and his video journals. His documentation of his battle with AIDS was heartbreaking. I’d post one of his videos, but this isn’t the time for that. I’m sure they’re on YouTube.

The Voice of the Night’s post at R89 reminds me of this, which I posted on part 2 of this thread:

How can we honor the memory of a man like Leonard Hanlin?

Well...he was governed by the laws of physics as are all living things. It is a scientific fact that hearts and clocks slow down as they approach the speed of light: the point at which matter is converted into energy. Dr. Hanlin's heart approached that speed on Friday evening, at 7:57, according to the coroner, converting his matter into energy, into pure white light. Though he is no longer with us, he is all around us.

R101. They are—I checked. I know I must have seen them, but I want to watch them again—it’s been many years.

Yes, R103, I looked too. “The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter - HBO (1993)” includes Dr. Peter’s words VOTN quotes at the end of the film.

I’m looking forward to next summer’s thread, “Goodbye frieds - my last vacation to Provence”.

Sending muck.love to you both. Ill be praying.for you both as will my family.❤🙏

Sending love and peace to you and Mark this Thanksgiving. I'm sure both of you are more than thankful for each other. And I'm thankful for you reminding me that in the LGB world, longtime love is just as possible as anyone who isn't. When the time comes, I hope you experience absolute beauty and wonderment never before imagined. ♥

Sending you both positive energy as the journey continues. May you find peace in your love and the memories made together. All the best from North Carolina.

Wishing you peace and love Joe and Mark.

Oh God, this scene always stayed with me since the Seventies. If you are going to go, go on your own terms, and surrounded by beauty.

All my love, Joe and Mark.

For OP

[quote]It is nice to see a large part of the community support you and Mark in this transition.

See, we're all trannies in the end!

Hi, Joe!

Getting a sense of you both, I wondered if you would wait till after Thanksgiving if you were able to.

Godspeed when the time is right, darling stranger and so much love to your husband of 50 years.

May Mark be surrounded by your everlasting and mutual love , Joe, and upheld in light and energy always.

You and Mark have inspired me, a gen z gay guy in many ways that you can't imagine. Peace and love to you both.

R114 what have they moved you to do, little Zoomer? Just curious.

I'm really sorry, OP. ❤🙏

Good morning, Joe, just checking in. Thinking about you. Wishing you and Mark a good Sunday.

Hi Joe, just wanted to wish you and Mark a nice Sunday. Hope the drugs are giving you the comfort you so much need. Love 💕

Strength and honor, love and peace.

Jolan tru.

Peace and goodness be with you all of your days Joe.

Peace, light, curiosity

Joe, hope you’re sitting comfortably next to Mark this evening.

Thank you for your inspiring love story. We should all be so lucky.

Joe your life with Mark gives me a glimpse of hope that I will find love one day. I gave up years ago and your story show us it is indeed possible. Thank you for that and for sharing your journey.

Peace and love to both of you.

Sending much love. You are both in my thoughts every day.

A song...

Love and peace to you, Joe and Mark.

Goodbye to you.

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Are you still here collecting goodbyes? I don’t know who you are, Joe. But you were a guy on this site, which is the most important thing. I’m so sorry for your loss. Or gain, or whatever. I hope you have a good Tuesday.

Joe? Are you still with us?

Love to Joe and Mark...wishing you both peace.

Hope you are feeling comfortable with the drugs Joe. Your last post was last week so I would imagine you are probably under meds. Either way I’m sending you loving thoughts and may angels sing to you

Much love Joe and Mark.

But have we figured out the "stuff" situation?

{ Asking for a friend. }

Don't forget to cancel your Netflix.

Rest comfortably, Joe. Sending you love.

suicide is painless

138, get fucking lost.

Hi Joe just a quick check hope you’re okay. Love.

Well, I'm probably not the only one is vibing that Joe made his decision. I'm sure Mark will check in when things settle a bit. Of course I hope I am wrong but, I can't shake the feeling.

Did Joe say whether Mark knew about DL? Because this thread notwithstanding, the place would be an eye opener for the uninitiated.

r142 They shared literally everything else from the sound of it, I'm sure Mark knows and has the login and password. I think Joe would want us to know when he died. I'm fairly sure Mark isn't some fragile flower that this place would scare him off.

^ You've been here too long.

Sending so much love, Joe. Fly free.

Love and peace, Joe. If/When you've passed, I know you'll be surrounding and holding Mark close to help him through your transition. So much gratitude that you let us share in this part of your journey.

I believe that was the plan from the first thread. But assuming it would be pretty far down Mark’s to do list.

Anyway Joe might very well just be enjoying the morphine right now. If you are Joe and you are checking in, know how many of us are are holding you in our hearts.

(Also I believe we have a poster or two from close-by and it sounds like Joe would be obituary worthy.)

Elder, I just checked obits that went up to right before T'Giving and I didn't find anything that would remotely resemble him (age, name, etc.). Sometimes obits aren't published for a few weeks though, so. Also agree, checking in here on Mark's part would be low on the list.

Imaginary Joes don't have obituaries.

I really hope Joe is enjoying lots of happiness on pain meds.

In our hearts!

Greetings. It was a tough week but some things have started to help me eat bit more. I plan on passing the New Year if I can manage it. I can't bear to say farewell. Love to you all. Mark is doing OK. Lots of love around him now.

It’s good to hear from you Joe. It’s late, I’m turning in. See you tomorrow.

R154 please leave us alone and go back to your basement.

Joe good to hear from you. Know that there’s a ton of love from many of us here.

💖

Ummm. Stuff?

Wonderful to hear things have settled a little for you Joe. Xxx

It's so wonderful when all of Joe's fans and followers from all over the country!!! all post at once! Within minutes or a few hours of each other. All with those dumb authenticated names. All with the same OLD LADY never been fucked or in a relationship EVER language sappy sorry language that "JOE" uses. Cuz that's how 71 year old men talk about their 50 year relationship. All the BAD songs posted from the 80s when the DL fake freak was in his thirties!!!

It's pretty hlarious that this freak keeps talking to himself from so many different accounts. He wants to kill Joe off soon. But he's edging it. Bitch don't know how to concoct or finish a decent story.

How can I miss you when you never leave Joe? If I'd shot you when I wanted to, I'd be out by now.

Actually R154 made me laugh. This is the DL after all. We need the occasional shot of bitchiness. Even in this wonderful thread.

Joe, I'm thrilled you chose to make it to the New Year. I think hanging on for as long as you still want to is a great thing. Because why not?

If you feel up to it, maybe another Mark anecdote?

Joe, it’s so nice to hear from you and it is great to hear that you are able to eat more. Whatever you are celebrating in December I hope it is very festive.

Don’t listen to the naysayers, I fully believe you! 🙏

I’ve been following but not posting. I do wish Joe and Mark well. So many internet friends (fiends).

So a long time ago when my coworker’s young relative was brutally murdered, this homespun video by unknown artists was posted somewhere as we all processed what happened. And it brought comfort. I showed it to my mom and she liked it, saying our physical energy presence never really leaves.

I searched for it again after my mom’s recent passing.

We should all desire to Dance in the Sky.

best wishes to the bowel surgery

The troll is obviously the same one as before, the one who got banned for his posts. It doesn't seem like funny bitchery to me, seems like a personality disorder.

Thinking of Joe and Mark in western Canada. XOXOXO

Glad you found peace with all of your decisions Joe.

R165, are Joe and Mark in Western Canada now?!?!?

Yes, Rose, they're skiing Whistler.

Santa Rosa checking in, Joe and Mark. So glad you are still here and having a better time eating. I'm about to embark on my holiday bake-a-thon. Wishing I could send some to you!! Happy to hear you want to hang around through the holidays. Much love and peace to both of you!

Loving Joe and Mark in Southwestern Iran! AIDS Was Sent By God To Punish Gays.

We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the wine and the song Like the seasons have all gone

I keep wondering if Joe and Mark are real. Then I think, one way or another, yes, at least in a deep, symbolic way. This whole thread of Joe and Mark has some deep meaning. I'm just not able to verbalize it.

R172 It has shown me how awful we treat each other until we’re dying or dead (we say things in eulogy we never say while they’re alive). It shows how warm and kind hearted we really are deep down. My own theory is we all carry hurt and anger from past traumas. It feels good to let it out in anger or in bad behavior. It’s only when something larger comes along we heal making others feel better which is usually not enough in the every day hum drum of life.

Plus, we’re all steering at our own mortality every day, some more than others depending on age. I think we karma is real and get as much comfort from others as we give to those who are dying.

*staring not steering

It's tacky to post on this thread about how you're a good person because you're wishing Joe and Mark the best. At least take it to another thread, please.

The whole thread is fiction. There is only one person posting as many. He's a very sick fuck.

Joe so glad to know you are still with us and feeling marginally better.

Our evenings have been quiet. Peaceful. We snuggle and watch favorite old movies we know for the last time. It’s all good. 🎄

Love ya loads. Old films are neat.

You people realize this is one big troll, right?

R180 how can you tell? Enlighten us.

And another one gets blocked.

Glad you're feeling better Joe and are at peace and enjoying your remaining time on this planet.

Hugs and love!

R180, you do realize we don't care, right? As much as I enjoy your smug, comic book guy, "ack-shully," as you shit all over the thread, please go back and peruse the many posters who have said that even if this is fake, it's brought out hope and kindness and other emotions we aren't known for but are happy to feel and show. Now go tell some kid you just ran over the Easter bunny and that they're adopted.

r180 is being ironic, they're a Meghan troll and being racist on the Macron thread. Punch 'n' delete.

Wishing you a peaceful and calm leaving and a joyous entering into what’s next.

Old movies are NEATO. Joe is such a wise, deep, vernerated and articulate dead man! Such great taste and a long life. He can only think to look in Mark's eyes. Joe and Mark are such inventive names! Beautiful.

He writes in the same vague never been fucked platitudes of his creator TROLL.

Same NEATO taste in BAD music and poetry for illiterates. Just like all the TROLL's alternative account posters. Neat.

Goodbye Joe, you got ago, meyo miyo.

R178 that sounds beautiful. A little bit of heaven. So glad you guys are able to enjoy that.

Wake me when he's transitioned.

Garlic, garlic and more garlic.

Joe please tell Christine Mc Vie that Stevie Nicks made her letter about your death all about her as usual.

Love you, Joe. Hope you are enjoying your December.

I don't know her.

To the posters who keep claiming that Joe is fake and is using multiple personas and accounts, please provide some proof of this. Otherwise I can only assume that you are the fakes.

Oh, OK, Willis.

Whatchu talkin’ about, Willis?

Joe are you still with us?

Yes. Love you all. 🐈♥️

I hope there are still many good days ahead, Joe. :)

I’m nowhere near there!!

Although we don’t personally know one another, DL is an online community (even including the Ruskie trolls).

This community is giving you two a warm embrace!

[quote]I don't know how or why that bothers some people. I have to assume that the trolls are just afraid -- afraid of being vulnerable again, afraid of being fooled again, afraid of facing death, maybe without a Mark to hold their hand.

I feel SAWRRY far them!

What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.

Glad to hear from you Joe, hope you and Mark are having a lovely weekend

I'm thrilled to bits that Joe decided to stick around. I hope he's comfortable, and enjoying movies with Mark. Right now, it's 4:19am in Los Angeles, and I'm in my brand new memory foam hybrid bed that my mom got me for Christmas, with the rain hitting the roof, and my space heater whurring, but getting the job done.

Happy Holidays, Joe!!!

Happy Joy Sunday Joe. It’s the one day of the liturgical year when the color is pink and I’m pretty sure the term gay devices from the Latin word for joy gaudete. So have a day of gay joy and light a pink candle if you have one.

Joe and Mark,

I'm reading this thread, while, right outside my windows is a forest of trees.

It snowed overnight.

Every limb, branch and trunk are entirely traced in snow against a canvas of grey/white clouds.

I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of this thread. I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of the physical matter I'm surrounded by.

Thank you and the Creator.

Love to you Joe ❤️

Smooches to R207.

I’m assuming they’re also not in the “Im going to the bathhouse tonight” thread

Hi Joe - I’m the depressed poster that wrote here a few times. Just stopping by to say hello and that I still check this thread everyday. As usual I still look forward to the few minutes I spend here as it is one of my few interests as I stay in bed most of my existence.

R207 I am too overwhelmed with the amount of love here. Joe and Mark brought as all together and I send you both all my love. God bless.

R211…I think about you as well. We are all family. Hang in there. 🐈🤞

Hi Joe,

I thought about you while decorating my Christmas tree this evening. I'm the last left in my family, so the holidays are a bittersweet time for me. If this is to be your last Christmas, I hope you have the best one ever -knowing how much you are loved and appreciated, and will be remembered.

Joe, how are you feeling?

Thinking of the two of you.

Thanks Joe 💖

R213 Hugs to you 🤗

[quote] I'm the last left in my family

That phrase really struck me. Very bittersweet

Joe and Mark,

From the fireplace rug Wyki, my 3-legged cat, sends you love, warmth, and a bellyfull of only the best feelings.

^^Wyki says "Heyyyyyyy, Joe-Daddy!"

Love to you and Mark. Hope you have a good day today.

Nice cat, R219

I think it’s ok to just post here without disturbing Joe. He will always post when he is able.

Thanks, Dutchie@R221! That boy is my heart, so I love sharing a bit of him with everyone.

Just yesterday I lost Twin, my old yellow tabby. And my ancient grey tabby, Greyboy, is not long for this world, either; so as my heart breaks I am praying so very hard for the miracle of more time for you, Joe and Mark.

Joe you had a great ass but you couldn't live forever.

I feel like you are the most selfless, gentle, kindest souls I have ever encountered online. God bless you in your next life.

Sending you early holiday wishes, to you and Mark. Hope you are comfortable and enjoying the run-up to the holidays in peace. Much love.

To Mark - I'm worried about you too! My husband of 31 years died a few months back. It's been very hard dealing with his loss. Please take care of yourself and keep on loving that man.

Joe and Mark, have a great last holiday season and ring in the new year like rock stars. Keep taking those pain killers enough to where you are feeling good.

Sending love to you!

New to DL, who dis?

R228

Read the thread from the beginning. All will be revealed.

🥹You are all the perfect Medicane. Thank you kindly♥️

Vision getting complicated. Sorry for the typos 🤯

Don't you dare apologize, my dear. We're happy to hear from you. Love, kindness and happiness to you and Mark today and all the days of your lives.

Love to you Joe. Make as many typos as you want. We are just happy to hear from you ❤️

Checking in ❤️ Love to Joe, Mark, and everyone here.

Joe, we thank you for checking in. You are loved. Virtually and in person. Especially the latter. What a blessing.

Kisses, friends.

Good morning from the U.S. Central Time Zone, beloveds!😍😚😻

Morning, Joe and Mark. Wishing you well this holiday season!

R237…the kitty looks just like our Izzy!🐈♥️

Very pretty kitty. Wishes for holiday cheer to both of you, Joe & Mark!!!

No way, Joe/R239!

Myrlie (f/k/a Fatburger) is the cutest kitten I've seen in years (don't tell my Minka I said that!), and with personality for 23 cats.

I'll bet your Izzy loves you like crazy (and how could she not; we all do @DL). Smooches!

Lots of love to you and Mark. And Joe we love your typos.

Lots of love to you Joe, from over in Australia. Wishing you the very best for going forward.

I hope you know what a lovely impression you've made here, and you've managed to bring out the best in Datalounge which is a wonderful thing. You will live on in our memories because of that

And I don't meant this to sound vulgar, but rather a compliment: that your mention of your dancer's ass will also live on in our memories. You sound like a right catch all across the board.

A big hug to you and to Mark. I wish I had better words, but: thank you xx

There is a time and place for the darkest humor….

Thinking of you and Mark, Joe. Hope you have a comfortable day.

Joe, don’t die in the DL grease fire I’ve heard about.

Sending love!

Thank you Mark for the update.

Hang tough.

Crying as I type.

Thanks got the update, Mark. It feels anticlimactic as death invariably is.

r247 is a troll I think. I have him blocked and Joe said that Mark would come in and update us using his authenticated name.

r247 is a troll. Don't fall for it.

Yep, checked my ignored threads, and the poster at r247 is also a poster I have blocked who said on one of the other "Joe" threads: "Joe died. I’ve moved on. You fags should too."

honestly, I think joe's gone. it's been so long and he got those pills many weeks ago...

Oh no

He just checked in a day or two ago, so it hasn't been "so long"

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Serious question.

read the damn thread if you're asking about who this thread is about.

Who would post that, do they think Joe is a fictitious person? How frustrating for Joe. I find it frustrating, too.

I'm wondering if Joe & Mark felt the big earthquake? Hope they're doing well, in every way possible.

I live very close to them (within 20 miles) and I slept right through it. the earthquake's epicenter was over 183 miles away, so we probably didn't feel too much here.

Glad to hear that. Season's Greetings!

To you too, r262!

You queens are dramatic and will fall for any EST. The cat meme was beyond. Cringe de la cringe to this whole thread.

Completely missed what this thread is all about. Would someone please kindly post a link to previous thread(s) or let those of us who are clueless know what's going with "Joe and Mark"?

Also had R247 blocked so definitely a troll. If that was Mark the post would have showed to me.

Sending love to you and Mark and hope you are having a comfortable week Joe.

When a loved one dies, now more than ever is the time to whip up something extra special for those who are grieving. I've found, though a bit provincial, one can never go wrong with a Mud Pie at a funeral. Enjoy and feel free to ask any question about the ingredients. I would advise not deviating from the recipe if you truly want to impress.

The Perfect Mud Pie

Ingredients 1 package Oreo Cookies 14-15 oz, reserve 1/3 cup for topping pie 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted 1/2 gallon ice cream, any flavor 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup granulated sugar 4 oz semi sweet chocolate chocolate chips will work! 2 tablespoons vanilla 1 cup heavy whipping cream 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions:

The day before serving, or early in the day prepare the crust and fill with ice cream.

Remove ice cream from freezer. Let sit on counter while preparing crust.

Crush Oreos in food processor.

Add 3 tablespoons melted butter while using the pulsing action on the food processor.

Press the crumbs into a 9 inch pie plate with deep sides, or a 9-10 inch springform pan or a 9×13 pan.

Spoon softened ice cream into prepared crust. Be careful to not press too hard or crust will separate.

Cover and store in freezer.

TO MAKE HOT FUDGE: Place 1 cup whipping cream, 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 4 oz chocolate together over low heat in heavy pan, until chocolate melts.

Increase heat to medium and cook for about 8 minutes while stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. You may use a double boiler for this process!

Remove from heat and add vanilla, mixing until smooth.

Let cool completely before topping the ice cream.

When hot fudge is completely cooled, top ice cream and place pie back into freezer.

Whip cream in stand mixer or large bowl with hand mixer. Add 2 tablespoons powdered sugar to whipped cream, while beating on low, beat until stiff.

Top pie with whipped cream and remaining Oreo crumbs.

Store in freezer for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days before serving. Pie is best when allowed to sit in freezer for 6+ hours!

I'm sorry for your loss, OP, and hope this provides you with even a moments worth of comfort, for what it's worth. Let me know what everyone thinks of the recipe.

R265, Joe and Mark are a married couple who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Soon after, Joe was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Joe’s big concern is for Mark and how Mark will do after Joe dies.

Joe has meds that will end his life peacefully, but says he would like to stay with us through the holidays. That’s the story so far, and Joe checks in with us every few days to say hello, accept hugs and give us updates.

You're a narcissistic blown-out gaping arsehole R267.

Sending you love Joe!

Trolls like R247 please go away and stop posting fake news. Go back to your moms basement and let us be.

Oh, Mark, I’m sorry to hear that. But am glad he is out of pain. What a loss. Please take care.

Folks - That post was NOT Mark. It was a troll.

Muriel can you pls remove R247?

[quote]honestly, I think joe's gone. it's been so long

He just posted Friday, you damn dork.

Also, guys, 247 has done this before. So has the person who shows up with a variety of accounts to tell us that we're falling for an EST, who always includes homophobic slurs in his comments. He may use multiple accounts but it's clearly all one person. Stop falling for it!

Another cold, clear morning on the east coast.

r268, thank you so much for that explanation. I suspected cancer. It's the DL, but assuming this is not an EST.

Pancreatic cancer is pretty much a death sentence. Hate to use that blunt term, but am a cancer scientist who ended up getting (colon) cancer, but my prognosis is currently not that bad. The best outcome is palliative care (pain meds/hospice) for his situation. My own comfort derives from getting my estate in order, such that my partner - who is even older than me and has his own health issues - will be cared for. We think we might be able to

Wishing Joe and Mark a soft landing.

Best wishes to you and your husband R275.

I am going to link to original thread below. Joe, I hope you don’t mind my doing that. Thinking of you and (real) Mark.

R275 Wishing you the best and same for your partner. Love to you both.

And to Joe and Mark as well 💖

I hope that you and Mark are living in every moment of these holidays, Joe. Sending you hug.

Sending you love to make it through the New Year Joe. You’re very close ❤️

Hi Joe, early Merry Christmas to you and Mark. Enjoy every minute with each other. Sending love and light your way.

R267 isn't actually that creature, is it? I mean, he's bad enough everywhere else.

Editor!

F & F r247!

PRONTO!

r267 had me laughing very hard!

r283 that's because you are r267

R247…is a troll. You will know when it is real. All is peaceful tonight.

♥️still here

Thankful you still are Joe...♥♥♥

Merry Christmas Joe! Happy Holidays!

Celebrating Solstice with you all in mind tonight.

We'll all be toasting you and Mark on Sunday, Joe. I hope you guys have wonderful days together. :)

Loved that recipe, R267! Changed everything though: baked some store-bought chocolate chip cookies from the tube but still managed to kill someone and enjoy the sorrow. Thanks for the suggestion!

Great to hear from you Joe 💖. Love to you both.

R258, I read the thread, and two of the OTHER ones. But still no answer.

Can't find the original one, where I'm sure there must be more details.

Anyway, Goodbye Joe, whoever you are.

R293 Here is the link to the first thread.

For some reason link is not work. Let’s try again.

Greg, you are insufferable.

Joe, glad you are still around and I wish you a merry Christmas.

The looong good bye..

Hope you and Mark have a lovely holiday weekend, Joe

Have a peaceful Christmas Joe, surrounded by the people you love!

Joe and Mark, have a blessed and peaceful holiday season. You have created a special life together and I thank you for sharing your time and memories with us.

Merry Christmas Joe and Mark! Glad to see your authenticated orange signature again! Welcome! Hope to hear from you again soon. Wishing you both a peaceful holiday.

R296 - amen!

G'day again Joe, Rob and I are still thinking of you from a warm and sunny Australia this Christmas.

r293 you clearly didn't read the thread thoroughly, because it was clearly and succinctly explained at r268.

[quote] Greg, you are insufferable.

Dutchie , fuck off. Do you really think I would come to this particular posting and say:

[quote] When a loved one dies, now more than ever is the time to whip up something extra special for those who are grieving. I've found, though a bit provincial, one can never go wrong with a Mud Pie at a funeral.

Absolutely ridiculous. I am embarrassed that some idiot posted that and signed my name to it. A mud pie at a funeral is an appalling suggestion.

267

Love to you Joe. Hang in there. 2023 is just around the corner.

I hope Joe doesn’t pull a Betty White.

I would never have posted it and it was uncool impersonating Greg, but I thought the mud pie post was funny in a dark humor, wildly inappropriate, DataLounge kind of way. But I might have been reading into it with a “to dust ye shall return” snark regarding the mud that the author didn’t actually intend.

Joe, I hope this Christmas is everything you would want it to be under the circumstances.

Thank you for allowing us to spend this time with you. A lot of DataLoungers have passed on to wherever DataLoungers go without closure. And I miss some of those bitches and wish I could have typed a goodbye.

Thanks R294.

Holiday love from a fiend to you both!

The surviving partner needs to do a "he's fine! He sends his love!" post on D-Day, in true DL style.

ElderLez @ r276, thank you for the link, and as always, thank you for the kind words. Per your comment @ r308, I especially miss CackleCackle, who suddenly went silent. Came so close to actually meeting him, as I used to pass through where he lived (Half Moon Bay, CA) several times a month. Wishing you and your wife warmth and safety for the holidays on LI !

Joe and Mark, my heart goes out to you, hoping that Joe has the best medical care team and that Mark has a supportive network of friends/family.

At least with Pierre we had the obituary. Half Moon Bay is so lovely. I was there last year for a cousin's wedding and thought of Cacklecackle.

Warmth and safety and joy to you R312 and all posters, even the trolls, on this thread.

ElderLez is pretty awesome. Like her posts.

Yes, ElderLez seems like a sweetheart. Not to derail the thread, but do you have a gay brother in the city, ElderLez? If so, I think he’s a friend of mine and we met once.

Anyway… Stay strong, Joe. You’re impacting a lot of people through these threads. I can only imagine the impact you’ve had on those whom you’ve actually met. I wish you all the best and hope you have many more happy moments. ❤️ I would ask for your things, but I’m sure Marc’s getting most of them 😉. Can you at least tell us what you will play on your iPod once you’ve had enough on this crazy plane and decide to move on?

Speaking of you ElderLez, recently I had a dream where you came over to my new house and brought mac n cheese as a welcome. It was a lovely gesture and I woke up smiling.

Merry Christmas, Joe! I don't have any great words for you but I hope your life and home are warm and full of love right now.

R316, so creepy

Wishing Joe and Mark a lovely Christmas. Extending it to all the posters, even the trolls and argumentative detour queens. I have been coming to DL since the first Obama campaign. Some of my heartiest laughs have happened at my keyboard. Helen Lawson, Judy Pills, Momma, the Possum in a drawer, and so many characters here. Plus the helpful info, from the Tax Guy, the threads on every topic. Of course, the gossip. Long live DL!

Opossum!

Merry Christmas to you, Joe and Mark! May your love keep you warm and happy to the end!

Christmas Eve warm wishes to you Joe and Mark.

Dutchie has started a thread to reminisce about lost DataLoungers so we can focus on Joe in this thread and use the other thread for that.

[quote] Dutchie , fuck off. Do you really think I would come to this particular posting and say:

[quote] When a loved one dies, now more than ever is the time to whip up something extra special for those who are grieving. I've found, though a bit provincial, one can never go wrong with a Mud Pie at a funeral.

if you could get away with it, you absolutely would. Your narcissism is insufferable.

This is a beautiful thread. And it makes me resent the handful of troll post I made over the years and either berating people for no reason. I guess sometimes I take the bitchiness too far. God bless. Happy holidays.

Wait, why is the OP's post lined out. Please don't tell me this is all made up. What's going on. Haven't read all the comments.

Merry Christmas, Joe and Mark from bitter cold CT. May the magic of the season lift you up.

None of Joe's other posts are lined out. I would imagine that the various trolls FFd the thread, either before they posted or because people called them out...

R327 I thought being lined out means the poster was cited as a troll on DL, and anything you've ever posted becomes lined out.

No, an individual post can also be lined out.

r3228 nope. it can mean that some idiot just kept FF'ing the post/thread. We've had at least one or two incessant trolls throughout all the threads. There's something wrong with that idiot.

This thread isn't lined out for me. Try changing your settings to Asbestos Eyeballs.

Now that I've got the tech help out of the way: Merry Christmas to Joe and Mark, and I hope you have a lovely holiday

Merry Christmas Joe & Mark! Sending you much love, from Westport, CT

Merry Christmas, Joe & Mark. Wishing you a love-filled day today and thinking of you both!

Merry Christmas, Joe and Mark!

All my love Joe and Mark.

Ok how long has this been going on now? Pancreatic cancer? Hmmmmmmm

Going on 2 months. 🌧️

Merry Christmas, Joe - and here's to the New Year!!

Why is op greyed out?

r339, we've been through this a few posts upthread. There is a loon who has been stalking/trolling this thread from the start, saying this is someone faking the whole thing and he/she has FF'ed the thread enough so that it shows as greyed out.

I’m guessing it must be Defacto because he’s the only one mental enough to go through a host of different ips to get it greyed out.

My understanding is that if there are enough freaks and flames clicks on posts within the thread the thread itself gets greyed out. (So troll a can “hide” a thread by showing up and making a lot of trollish comments) It’s kind of like the DataLounge version of catch and kill. Is that not correct?

Joe, wishing you a beautiful Tuesday from cold, but no longer bitter cold, New York.

R 323, what is wrong with you?

Best to Joe and Mark this New Years! Glad to see you're still with us Joe. Best to you and your family.

I actually can't bear to read the majority of these messages and hope this is all an EST.

It's too sad otherwise

Hang in there Joe. It’s almost 2023. Love to you and Mark ❤️

Thinking of you Joe.

Happy New Year !

To Joe and everyone else in this thread...wishing you a truly wonderful 2023 filled with many blessings!

Joe made it past Baba Wawa!

He also made it past Pope Benedict!

Love to you Joe. Hope you and Mark are having a good day ❤️

Happy New Year's Eve to both you and Mark, Joe. So much love to you, and I personally have felt so touched by you and your story, and honored that you have chosen to share with all of us.

Wishing you a beautiful New Year’s Eve and much love to everyone here.

Joe and Mark, you've passed another milestone together. Much love to you both -and to everyone here.

Joe, let's do one more week maybe? If you feel up for it?

Just putting that out there.

This is really making me incredibly sad. Cancer sucks. Humanity must find a cure.

R345 No! It's the opposite of sad, it's beautiful and gives me hope. No one gets out of here alive but not everyone gets to be a part of their own death and plan for the people they leave and give advice to others.

And not everyone would have the courage to do all of that, R357. That's part of why this thread is special.

Love to Joe and Mark!

Happy New Year, Joe and Mark! Love to you from me (and everyone else here)!!

Happy New Year, Joe!!

It's gone crickets over here. Hi Joe and Mark, stay safe and snuggly from these wicked storms.

Stupid sorry ass bitches!

R362 Wow, you should have worked up to that. It kind of leaves you nowhere to go.

r361, do Joe and Marc live in Northern California?

i'm not r361 but yes, they do. I live within 20 miles.

I'm beginning to think it's happened, girls. The radio silence is rather concerning.

It is entirely possible, R366. But we've had silences before. I'll just keep sending good thoughts their way and hope for the best.

It's probably over.

11 days since last post from Joe.

He said he wanted to make it to the New Year. I hope he got there.

And while I don't believe in any sort of afterlife, I hope Mark is at peace with Joe's passing (assuming that's happened).

Did Joe leave any clues as to who he was? If we had the name of the town he lived in, perhaps, maybe a quick search of obituaries w/ the first name of Joseph might show something.

I thought Northern California?

Yes, northern California. Near or about Guerneville?

There are people on this thread that either know the specific town, or know that where they live is close to Joe.

It would be nice to know where I (and others, I bet) could make a contribution in his honor/memory.

SF Bay Area is where they live(d). It does feel likely he has gone on with his plans. I'm sure we will hear from Mark in time. Or possibly Joe had a bit of a rally and they are having one last vacation blast away from the internet, who knows?

I'm the person who lives near to Joe, although I never got his exact location - just knew he lived closer to the coast than Guerneville (further West). I looked at obits last night with either the name Joseph or Joe and didn't find anything. There are only two or three publications it would be listed in and none of them showed anything. The caveat is if Joe's name was a nickname and his real name is nothing close to that.

Guys, I'm sure we are (and rightfully) very low down on Mark's list of priorities these days. We should resign ourselves to the fact that we may never know. That's the way online communities work... I am not being metaphysical when I say that the spirit of Joe lives on, here in this thread and the way we conduct ourselves here in the Lounge and out in the real world. The best tribute we can give is to be good people and good friends.

"If you see me gettin' smaller, I'm leavin', don't be grieving Just got to get away from here If you see me gettin' smaller, don't worry and no hurry, I've got the right to disappear"

R377 this the DL. We need to live our lives full of spite, scorn, envy and pettiness.

It's what Joe would want.

It's truly the DL tie that binds.

In all seriousness, I've loved every post on these threads - even the trolls - and we have Joe to thank for that. He showed us that even in the face of the end we can act with grace, humor, and community.

OPERATION LONDON BRIDGE!

R377, great post

Joe’s thread held a mirror in front of the Dl. The best and the worst on full display.

I feel like he's still here for some reason. He or Mark will pop in soon. If not, maybe DL near Guernville will keep us posted. May Joerest in peace either way.

I hope Joe is still with us.

If not....

This is all a scam.

For what purpose r385? No one is asking for money.

[quote]Joe’s thread held a mirror in front of the Dl.

Did it fog?

r386 never heard of shits & giggles.

you naysayers are a bunch of assholes. move along and go scratch your asscracks somewhere else.

There's a lot of people on DL who lie all the time, and a lot of people on DL who are very negative people and want DL to remain a negative place for them to spew in, and a lot of people who want attention and can't handle it if someone else gets attention. That's pretty much what the "scam" and "fake" comments are about. (There's one poster who was an asshole earlier in this thread who posts a lot of "I'm in crisis, please help me DL" threads themselves, for example.)

There has been no indication that this was a scam. Joe didn't post a lot, didn't ask for money, wasn't screwing with people in any way.

I've been searching obituaries as best I can but I haven't found anything. Hopefully he's still out enjoying the time he has left.

I think he's gone-gone.

r89/VoTN, JFC, am crying. Would like that to be read at my memorial. Thanks.

Thank you R390.

Maybe someday when Mark isn't hurting so much, he will find this thread and post in it.

Yes, I have a feeling Joe is gone too😔

Energy doesn't die, it just transfers.

How long has it been since Joe posted last?

Just FUCKING DIE already.

R398 - you seem nice

RIP Joe

Joe's last post was December 26, seventeen days ago.

I never read these threads. Could a kind DLer sum up the highlights?

R402, a good summation of Joe’s story is at r268.

R337 on 12/26

Here was Joe's last post.

Going on 2 months. 🌧️ —Joe

How sad. I just wanted to add that I don't think Joe's story can be summed up for you in one reply. You really should read both threads from the beginning. I feel like I saw a bit of what real love is.

17 days. Thanks for this thread. Maybe Mark will chime in when he feels ready. Thinking about this makes me sad, so off to find a picture here of naked man. 😔 RIP Joe.

R404, yea I think he may have moved on as well. RIP to the most tender soul I have encountered on DL.

Would love to learn more about Joe and Mark, but can't find many past threads. What are/were they all about?

Mark wasn't great with technology, so we might never hear back.

One of my favorite moments of the threads were in the beginning when ElderLez explained how dictation worked with the phone because Mark was having issues with his hearing (I don't remember the exact details of the issue but she explained step by step what they should do). That suggestion seemed to really help them and Joe was so thankful.

They just truly seemed like the sweetest, most loving eldergays.

You should be able to find them all if you search for "Goodbye to my Friends" without the quotation marks, r406.

You can also click on Joe's authenticated red name and it'll take you to his profile which should have at least a couple of the threads listed there.

I've been looking at local obits as I live near Joe/Mark (though not exactly sure where/what town they lived in), and I haven't seen anything. But I, too, think Joe may have passed at this point. There's no guarantee that an obit will be posted. But I think the lack of communication for this extended period of time is telling.

I'm sad if that's the case, but happy and honored that Joe chose to share with us in his (seemingly) last days. I wish Mark all the love and comfort from family and friends.

Thank you, Joe, for letting us be a part of your life and love. It's been a pleasure to know and care for you.

Goodnight, Joe, it’s been a pleasure.

R409, I did a quick glance as well, but many people don’t publish official obituaries. Are you looking in Sonoma county?

yes r409. i live in Santa Rosa, my daughter lives in Guerneville.

^^Sorry, i meant that reply to r411. I haven't had any caffeine yet today.

[quote]You should be able to find them all if you search for "Goodbye to my Friends" without the quotation marks, [R406].

Just wanted to point out, R408 that the original threads had the typo “fiends” for friends, which was pretty funny (and fitting). :)

Joe's fiends. 😔

[quote]. CODA!

I suspect this told us all we need and deserve to know.

This thread was so moving, and it unravellllled.

it absoluttlly unravvvvilllleeddddd

Goodvye Joanna! Ovarian Cancer is a CUNT!

and mike- Thank you for supporting Luann.

Thinking of you tonight, Mark, and wishing you the peace you’ll find in your memories of Joe.

Time to bury this thread.

How about Mark, R419, or did he prefer cremation?

If this is truly the end, I'll post this one more time. Not sure if it's the same or a different link, as there are a few out there.

"And in the end

The love you take

Is equal to the love you make."

Joe, we send you love on your journey. Mark, we send you love and peace.

Mark, so sorry for your loss. I'm a widower myself. We only had 31 years together. It really, truly sucks.

Are you all going to keep bumping this thread up for all eternity?

He's gone, it's over. Let it go.

r423, go to hell. You're not a moderator, you're a Meghan and Harry troll who has posted useless crap on DL thousands of times. you're the last person who should be policing anyone else's posts. Just put the thread on ignore, and stop being such a little shit.

Everyone who posts bumps the thread, including the trolls who complain about it being bumped.

Joe made it clear that Mark will stop in to our thread eventually.

I’ll be here waiting for him.

R424's boundaries have been stated and only I can see them.

Thank you R41.

I can't stand these threads that I don't understand!

Peace, Mark.

Wow, so sad😔 I keep checking, but nothing.

I was so happy when Joe told us he'd decided, for the time being, not to end his own life. "I just can't let go." Or words to the effect. I hope if it is over, it wasn't due to having to make the decision himself.

Peace to Mark, and the rest of Joe's family and friends.

r460 I don't understand. The whole reason behind this was so he could make the decision for himself when it was time to go. What I hope did NOT happen is he was robbed of that for whatever reason, short of peacefully dying in his sleep.

R431 Don't get me wrong. I supported him 100% on whatever decision he made. I was just glad he decided to stick around. I don't think he was robbed of anything. If he went in his sleep, great. But, if things got too difficult, and he decided to do it himself in the days after Christmas, I support that too. But I'd rather he went in his sleep.

Sigh, I do think he has died. Just so sad, what a lovely guy. These threads have been beautiful. Thank you all.

R433 I think Joe would've gotten a kick out of that post.

Like everyone else, I'm afraid of what this extended silence means. If Joe is indeed gone, I hope it was as peaceful as possible. I have enjoyed the majority of the posts on this thread. It was truly one of the few threads that I revisited often.

Mark: If you ever visit these threads, please know you have my sincerest condolences.

Thank you Joe for giving us a little isle of humanity.

I had clicked off the "watched" eye icon on this thread a couple of days ago because it was just so sad to not see or hear any further activity here and because I do actually believe Joe has gone into the Great Beyond (and is likely in his own Nirvana waiting until his beloved Mark joins him!). It's good to see others sending their goodbyes and echoing how much this thread has meant to them, as it has to me. I've been coming here for about a decade now and this elongated conversation with Joe and between all of us has been truly heart-warming and meaningful to me during a particularly dark time in my life. So thank you to all that have been on this journey together. Joe and Mark will live on in my heart and reassure me that true love does exist and can happen.

P.S. I'm the poster who lives rather near to Joe (not sure just how near though, as I never knew exactly where he was) and I check periodically to see if any obits match up to what we know about him. So far, nothing, and I'm kind of resigned to the fact that I may never see anything.

Much love to Mark, if you ever find or read these threads, and a resounding "thank you" to Joe who showed us what true humanity looks like. Peace and love to them both, and to all of you as well.

I hope you’ll stay R437. I think there’s a good chance Mark will respond eventually and you are an important part of the responses.

When my mother died of cancer she slept for the last four weeks of her life. The pain meds pretty much just knocked her out. She would occasionally wake up for about 45 seconds at a time.

Is this Joe’s wake?

R437 and R438, You are the best part of DL.

"Does anybody know how to get in touch with Joe?"

This has been a remarkable thread and I am reluctant to leave. The story of Joe and Mark has been so positive, even with Joe leaving this life. They had a wonderful 50 years together, and every bit that Joe shared was very generous.

I love the snark and misfits of DL, but having this unusual meeting of compassion just makes it all so much better.

He had a beautiful ass, but he.... (sniffle)

He...

I-- I'm sorry, I just [italic]can't![/italic] (runs off, crying)

Folks, Joe was a Datalounger. He appreciated snark and humor and bitchiness. I've no doubt that he added the occasional "what was on his iPod" or "can I have his stuff" to a thread. So say it, and say it proudly: He had a beautiful ass, but he couldn't live forever! There. The gods of DL have been appeased.

We can say that while remembering he also had a beautiful soul that will live forever, here on the Datalounge. Death is an inextricable part of life, but life does go on, and we can't let our sadness overcome the memories of a man with a wicked sense of humor and an appreciation of DL culture. Like a Viking funeral, a traditional Datalounge send-off is a rite, earned and necessary. Joe lived with us, died with us, and will always be a part of us.

Line for his stuff forms here.

R445 I already said it when Joe was alive and he responded to my comment. I just know in my spirt that this was real, and it's one of the most touching conversations/dialog threads I have experienced on the internet. Love ya Joe, and love all my gay and lesbian brothers and sistets.

r439 is correct. Ironically, a cousin of mine just passed last week from cancer. She was in hospice the last three weeks of her life, on pain meds and mostly unawake and not fully aware of what was happening around her, except for very short periods. It's possible that Joe has passed on, or is in the final stages of transition.

Either way peace be with him. I do believe that we'll eventually hear from Mark, or from someone close to Joe. I'll be checking this thread.

Can't Mark at least tell us what was on his iPod?

When was the last time he did "a" live?

R449, just use your finger and scroll up looking for 'Joe' in red, it ain't hard.

r443, it's the rare thread like this, our gentleman who is currently battling cancer, (OK DL Doctors & Nurses, Diagnose Me), and Brian Nash's threads (he was a really sweet guy), that will keep me coming back to Datalounge.

I wish we had a proper send off for Cackle Cackle.

[quote] I wish we had a proper send off for Cackle Cackle.

Does this count? He went out with a bang.

Och laddie, you’re a cruel one.

[quote]"Does anybody know how to get in touch with Joe?"

Yep.

I'm sad we haven't heard from Mark. I hope he's doing o.k. I'm going to keep this thread in my "watched" threads.

Half of the MARYS in this thread are OPs of racist threads all over DL.

Can anyone tell if Joe was a paying member? I know he used a verified name, but DL being in prime time might be preventing Mark from posting.

Huh R457 I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe Muriel would make an exception to prime time if that were the case.

(Muriel, if you are listening, I am sure someone in this thread would pay for a membership for Mark to post.)

Prime Time is OFF.

I think if you have an authenticated name, you have to be a paying member, r457- and ha! ElderLez, I was *just* thinking about you!

I thought long and hard before posting the following, because I don't want to invite trolls - but I think I knew Joe, and maybe this can bring closure to some people here.

If I'm correct, Joe and I were colleagues over the years on various shows. We weren't close friends outside of work, and after he retired, we were not in close contact, though we would exchange postcards, emails, and texts from time to time.

Joe was a great guy. Always greeted me with a big smile on his face and a hug. A funny, smart and kind man. He loved life and lived it to the fullest. Working with Joe was a joy.

I didn't really know Mark. Only met him a few times. Nice guy, kind of shy. I think it's very unlikely that he would expose himself to some of the evil fuckery I've seen on this thread. I wouldn't if I were him. I'm glad Joe had us as an outlet, but Mark owes us nothing. I don't think we will hear from Joe or Mark again.

My (maybe our) Joe died of natural causes shortly after Christmas. Services were private. I may reach out to Mark after some time has passed. I probably will not mention DL at all, but I might refer to an online community that loved him and leave it at that.

This is probably as close to closure as we will get.

I do have an authenticated name, but I never use it, because trolls target authenticated members, but when I sign, I sign as

Thank you for your post, R460.

I also thank you, R460. It's good to know Joe was appreciated out in the world as much as he was here recently.

Everyone has a red name, you don't have to be a paying member to get a red name, so no, Joe may not have been a paying member.

Thanks r460. It does seem that your Joe was our Joe.

Thank you r460 ❤️

Thank you, r460.

May your Joe's and our Joe's memory be a blessing.

:-(

Thank you for the confirmation, stargazer. It gives us some needed closure. If/when you do talk to Mark, please assure him that we support whatever he chooses to do (or not do), and wish him well.

Every deep sorrow seeks a remembered deep joy.

Thank you, R460. Even if your Joe isn't our Joe, even if this whole thing was an EST, I hope that your Joe went peacefully and I hope his Mark is at peace at well. Even if it's not our Joe, it sounds like the man you knew was a bright spot in the world and I hope you convey that to his left behind love. People don't always realize the impact they make and I hope it would make him smile to know he brightened up a sometimes dark and bitchy little corner or the internet and made us all a little kinder for awhile.

I don’t believe Joe was an EST. Sounds like this was likely him. Godspeed. Hope he’s lighting up a ciggie in heaven (they allow smoking again) and that Mark is getting by.

R439, I'm sorry for your loss.

I visited my mother often during the last several years of her life; I saw her in Feb. 2020 for about 9 days. Then I went back to where I live out of state.

I was going to go back in April; then, COVID. In those early days, they made it sound like you'd drop dead if you went outside. So...I stayed away. She was on morphine at the end. I don't know if she would have known I was there.

They haven’t been able to post due to primetime. WOW that was the longest ever. Why?

Link to Joe’s Valentine story from 2022 for anyone who didn’t see it.

Joe died.

He left me a shit ton of money

I’m busy with hookers and blow

You fags need to let it go.

Mark

R473 dying people really don't want an audience. I wasn't there when my partner died and I felt terrible. I was there when my mother died and she literally waited until I went to use the bathroom to flatline. The sruggling for breath and the end is horrific and not something you want to share with people. People say "it was so peaceful" but your body will react no matter what your state of mind. They mean peaceful in a broad brush - unempathetic way.

R477 yes - in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, he talks about how people will usually wait until the loved one leaves the room to die - even if they are unconscious. Especially when it’s a parent dying.

I love my family and best friends so the last thing I'd want is for them to watch me die. I do NOT understand the obsession that others have about not wanting to die alone. I don't want to freak anybody out - of course I'd rather die alone.

It has been more than a month since his last post, hasn't it? It's safe to say he is dead, given the nature of his cancer and the amount of time that has passed. As to his survivor, he may not have had the same affection for DL as Joe did. In grief, he might find the idea of coming here and an engaging with a bunch of strangers distasteful. This was Joe's thing, not Mark's.

R478 is that true? I was staying with my mother, she was talking but didn’t want to eat much. Private nurses were arranged. I had to leave on a business trip which I’d already postponed once. I thought she would be okay until I got back. My brother was there. I left and when I arrived at my destination, I got a text saying she’d passed away. The thing is, it was so hectic, scheduling, arrangements, packing, I’m not sure I actually said goodbye to her. My taxi came at 6 am. Maybe I looked in and she was sleeping? I can’t remember. It was ten years ago and I can’t forget that I might have left without saying goodbye.

r481 it doesn't matter because it wasn't goodbye anyway. You will see her again and she knows how you feel. As much as people who don't believe in anything after life and think people are fools that do those of us who do believe in afterlife feel bad for those of you who think there isn't anything.

She watches over you all the time and if you talk to her she hears you. If you watch she will respond by doing something that you think is just your imagination. If you ever dream about her, no matter the dream, she is visiting you.

R481 I recommend checking out that book (Tibetan book of living and dying). The monk who wrote it spent a lot of time with the dying and spoke to a number of hospice nurses. He talks about how parents often wait until their children leave the room. He also talks about the ways in which the body prepares itself for death right at the end of life - it wasn’t the easiest read but his point was that western culture doesn’t talk about death enough and it’s a part of life etc.

And I agree with r482, she’s with you.

Death is the most intimate act. It should be done privately.

My condolences. Grief is love with no place to go. You never get over it you try to get past it. Buona fortuna.

I remember the Hospice nurse who was taking care of my sister said sometimes you have to tell them it's OK to go; that you'll be okay. I can still remember sobbing almost uncontrollably in the nurses arms. This was my next closest older sister; she and I were 21 months apart. She always felt bad that she wasn't a "better" older sister, whatever that means. She was diagnosed in January, in hospice in the hospital by the end of April and gone on May 6th which was about 2 weeks later. My Dad made the 90 minute trip down to see my sister on a week day, which was something he wouldn't normally do. He said he felt like he had to be there and sit with her. She died the next day.

My Mom was in assisted living when I got the call. She was 83, had dementia, and had stopped eating. My brother had brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor that had given him seizures.

Unfortunately, due to year of smoking, that had to put him on a ventilator as his lungs were not strong enough for him to cough out the effects of the anesthesia. It was obvious he wasn't going to come off the vent and would have some partial paralysis and slurred speech. We decided to remove the vent and let him die.

r486 I'm sorry. That is a lot to go thru. Those on the other side have it so much easier than the ones that are left behind here.

R486 I’m sorry for your losses ❤️

My man died in his sleep as I slept beside him.

Neither of us could have asked for a better passing for him.

Thank you, R486 and 487. It was a hellish 10 months. Lost Mom in July 2016, my brother late March of 2017 and my sister in early May that same year. Went from a 6 member family down to 3. It was the perfect time for me to adopt Cosmo.

R489, I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Joe’s threads have helped tap into emotions the likes of which we see too rarely around her.

Agreed R491. This has brought out the best in most, and the worst in others. This is, of course, the DL

I guess the inverse of this thread is the Goy-Spaide one!

I hope wherever Joe is that he knows he was loved.

R493 a Jimmmmayyyy for you.

Stop with that juvenile nonsense R495

R495 that gave me a chuckle. Us ones left behind can always use a laugh.

I don't get r495 's post at all.

R498 New here?

I'm sorry R496, I ony said that because R493 mentioned it. I also contribute good posts, I swear.

I can relate to r477 and the fact that some endings aren't so peaceful. I was at my grandmother's bedside when she passed and to be truthful, it wasn't pretty or calm like I thought it would be. She was gasping for air in her last breaths, with her face contorted (although we know she wasn't in pain). It wasn't like how it was usually shown in the movies or on tv, I'm still rattled thinking about it.

I agree that for some, it might be better to pass alone. Have your family and loved ones close in the final days, if that's possible, but be solo when the final moment comes.

I worked in a skilled nursing facility for a few years and I can tell you for a fact that any time a family member steps out to take a call, or discuss lunch etc, their loved one dies. Whenever I see ‘surrounded by family and friends’ in an obit I roll my eyes. Maybe in the other room, or maybe over the course of a few days, probably not at that moment. Dying is a private matter it seems.

Having said that I have had a person die while I was feeding her. But there was no family around.

Why is OP crossed out?

r503, see answers to r325.

...basically, trolls F&F'd Joe.

I'm expecting a 'thread closed' soon on this post. Dunno if Muriel has it at 500 or 600 nowadays.

Joe and Mark still cross my mind almost every day. I hope Mark will find peace- and a big thank you to R71 for verifying his passing.

R460 , excuse me! My keyboard must've slipped.

So very sorry to know that Joe has gone the way of all men, myself included, and you too, one day.

I posted this video in November- I was so happy that Joe said he and Mark watched it, and loved it, and cried.

Goodnight, my stranger friend. Say hello to Brian.

Peace.

R477 and R478, thank you.

You've brought me more peace than I have had in years.

Joe We Hardly Knew Ye……..otherwise these bitches on Datalounge would have shown up at your house asking for money, handjobs, and Mark’s skid -marked briefs

Yep, I suspect Joe was locked out of the DL during the months-long primetime prohibition. I just checked back this morning after having given up on the site days ago. I bet Joe returned several times to make a final post and couldn't get in. Oh well. Hopefully he is in peace and not compulsively checking a website.

Sometimes the weeks, months and years someone can have after a terminal cancer prognosis are totally unpredictable. Doctors tell you you may have a few months and that patient still lives 1 -2 years.

Thank you r482 and r483.

[quote]I suspect Joe was locked out of the DL during the months-long primetime prohibition.

He was a subscriber, he last posted a couple of days after Christmas, and we'd been on lockdown since BEFORE Christmas.

R482, I'll be thrilled to be proven wrong but I don't think so.

Energy has to go somewhere? Or maybe not. Maybe not in a way that means anything to who we are now.

Mom passed away in her late 80s but her husband, my dad, died when she was in her early 30s.

That'll never make sense nor will all the tragedies I see on the news every freaking day. We're up to what? 8K + deaths in Turkey from the earthquake.

Life sucks. Then you die.

I've just learned now it's not the worst thing to die alone.

r514 it will never be proven because that is the point of faith. I have told this before and hate repeating it because all of the naysayers have to weigh in but....

I believe that we choose to come here. We choose our family, friends, what we will look like and all the trials we will go thru for the purpose of learning. We choose when we will be born and how and when we will die. Each life has it's own trials depending on what we choose to learn in that lifetime. I believe in reincarnation because who could learn all there is to learn in one lifetime? I find this to be a good explanation as to why some people have such horrid lives, some people have really good lives, some have mediocre lives, etc. and why no one gets to go thru life unscathed.

I thought it was interesting that Tyre Nicols mother said last week that her son had fulfilled his purpose on earth and it was time for him to go.

On the other side we belong to spiritual families which can be a few or a thousand. This is why we connect with certain people instantly. We know them from the other side even though we don't remember.

Take a few years to mull this over. It took me a long, long time, a lot research, a lot of changing my mind back and forth until I finally got to where I am and know I will stay. No one has all the answers and I certainly don't but I do keep looking for answers. Right now I am looking into whether God may not be a single entity but all of us as a whole that is God. and if Jesus was actually the creator as he would have never taken credit for it.

No one can prove any of this for you. You have to look inside yourself for your own proof.

r515, I'm not r514. I would really like to believe that's true - it's just so hard when you see things like the earthquake and kind people getting painful forms of cancer and dying young and so on. How do you reconcile things like that? That all those people had behaved poorly in a previous life?

When I read the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, he talked about how karma is all related to your next life. So you do good deeds in this life so your next life isn't painful or horrible, etc. Is that how you see it?

I'm not a nay-sayer, r515, but many of us are fine with the idea of this life being enough. Is there something beyond death? Maybe, but I personally don't see any point in spending any time thinking about it other than as a passing thought. I wouldn't be living my life any differently if I knew that we went on to a heaven/hell/Valhalla or another life.

r516, I think you should do good deeds in this life, because it's the decent thing to do, and it isn't that hard.

A belated "You're welcome" to all those who thanked me for my (maybe our) Joe story. I do feel pretty sure that they are one and the same, but might not ever be absolutely certain. I don't have any additional info other than what I had at r460. This thread will likely be long gone by the time I speak to my Joe's Mark. I'm not sure what, if anything, I'll say to him about an online community. I can assure you that Joe was much loved and appreciated in this life, but Mark, his friends, family and colleagues - and by most of us.

That really ought to be enough. We shouldn't require a reward to behave decently to one another.

Beautifully stated R517

Thank you, r518.

Obvious typo is obvious, but I meant:

[quote]I can assure you that Joe was much loved and appreciated in this life, BY Mark, his friends, family and colleagues - and by most of us.

Hahahaah thanks r495!

r516 I see it this way, people choose what they are going to go thru in life. Sometimes it is for them to learn lessons and sometimes it is to help others learn lessons. We are all one so we do what we can to help others. I know it seems pointless sometimes and I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated I get, asking why would anyone choose a life like that. I question why I chose the life I've had. But most of these questions can't be answered until we are on the other side and can "see".

Before we come we have to sign a contract with everything we have chosen. Few times can we back out of it. I question why people like Putin, Hitler, Stalin, etc. are allowed to come and ruin so many lives but all I can console myself with is that everyone involved with them are learning something even if the dictators aren't learning anything. I believe there are levels that we go to when we die and depending on how far we have progressed in our lives determines which level we can be on. So those that just cause havoc and chaos only get to stay on the bottom level.

r517 that's fine. Everyone has to find their own thoughts or no thoughts about it.

R515 I’m very much with you, and it brings me such peace in moments of grief, stress, etc. Generally makes me much more patient and compassionate with all of the people in my life. Guessing you’ve read Michael Newton’s books? Another Great one is Signs by Laura Lynn Jackson….not very well written and I didn’t really like the author by the end, but what a message (!) and my god does her method work, basically proved being a question of a doubt your/our theory of reincarnation and life after death.

R482, you've read too much pseudo cult material.

They don’t realize primetime is over I would guess.

r522 I have never heard of either of those people.

So all those people who died in the earthquake in Turkey and all the people who died in the Holocaust actually made a choice to die that way?

Explain that, please.

Children who have abusive parents - chose them...ok...

R526 - You won't get a satisfactory answer from them because there isn't one. Cafeteria "spiritualists" and "fatalists" are just like Cafeteria Christians. Picking what suits their narrative and ignoring the rest. They mean well, but don't recognize the smugness behind some of their patronizing statements about how those of us who don't believe just haven't made the connections yet. Meanwhile, they're connecting dots they've already traced in advance. They just can't accept that some of us are comfortable with ambiguity; that some of us actually take COMFORT in the randomness of the universe.

I don't believe that "things are meant to be" or that "everyone has a story" or, as this macadamia suggests, we're all choosing our destiny. It's actually the randomness of our lives that I take comfort from. Yes, it means something awful could be around the bend, but it also means something wonderful -- perhaps surprisingly wonderful -- could be coming, too. So, I'll stay pretty zen about things and worry about what I have control over and not try and inject some fairy tale narrative where one never was.

But, if the fairy tales give others comfort, that's perfectly fine, too... just... stop trying to convert us to your Hallmark spiritualism, please.

r526 & r57 I can't explain why because they are the ones that chose for their own reasons. Maybe it is teaching those that are left behind.

Think about Emmet Till and what he went thru. It was Horrid. But it started the Civil Rights Movement. Think about those in the Holocaust. It was horrid. But it was teach us lessons we obviously haven't learned and that is why it will happen again. I understand that some of the Ukrainian civilians that were taken by the Russians have disappeared. I can imagine what happened to them.

There is a purpose to everything. But sometimes we are too stupid to learn from them so horrid things keep happening.

The only certainty that I will accept is "It's not impossible".

May I respectfully suggest that some of you discussing life after death at length head over to this thread, please?

This one is Joe's.

r531 we believe Joe is gone and maybe some of this discussion is helping Joe if he is reading it.

“Joe” and “Mark” are ESTs.

[quote][R531] we believe Joe is gone and maybe some of this discussion is helping Joe if he is reading it.

If you believe Joe is gone - and most of us do - why would you think that this discussion might help Joe, who never expressed any interest in discussing the afterlife when he was participating, r532?

I don't see that you were involved in any of Joe's other threads. You only came in after Joe stopped posting. It looks a little like you are hijacking this thread to proselytize. Apologies if I'm mistaken.

I made a respectful suggestion that you move your discussion of the afterlife to a thread more appropriate to it. You will do what you want, of course, but the linked thread is a better place for that.

...and the trolls are back with r533.

I'm out for now.

r460/stargazer

Thanks r460/r534. I already have r533 blocked, so I don’t see what they said, but I block only the trolliest of trolls, so I highly recommend all of us give him the heave-ho.

r534 I have been in this thread since the beginning and believe I posted in the very beginning but maybe not.

you would have no idea if Joe is reading this and if he is, if it is helping. I don't make threads to proselytize or ever try to convert anyone to my beliefs but my thoughts have helped others so I offer them when I think someone may be interested. I try to act like a Christian in the real world and hope that people can see that and use it but you can't do that on a forum where the only means of communication is words.

R460 thank you for posting. Makes sense the Joe passed around Christmas as that was about the time he wasn’t around DL anymore.

Those threads helped me in many ways and shed some light and hope during an extraordinary difficult time in my life. I am the depressed poster that barely leaves the bedroom. The amount of love and support was uplifting in way even though the circumstances were not ideal. Thank you to all who were part of this discussion and for showing your kindness.

RIP Joe and my love to Mark 💖

r510 - why WAS there a lockout here on DL? Thank you for confirming that too, by the way, because I was so confused as to why I couldn't post these many weeks.

Thank you as well for confirming the passing of our friend here. May he rest well, having been so loved.

The way it all went down just rings sadly true. Joe was posting less and less. I imagine in his last days, priorities shift, and we were not foremost in his mind.

His last post, which said nothing but was an indication he was still around makes total sense.

Right now, either Joe knows some fantastic secrets, or his being has ceased. Either way, he's at peace.

The gray lines through the OP’s post is symbolic and, frankly, brutal on Muriel’s part.

That said, oy, this guy’s farewell won’t end. Like Elton’s.

Love and light to you r537. I hope you are ok and there are other threads here that can bring some comfort or laughter. I've been here many years, and even when boring or slow this board never fails to help lift my mood or get me through tougher times.

I'm watching "Yes, Dear" reruns and Christine is yelling at Jimmy, "Jimmmay!" so that made me laugh. Vaya con Dios, Joe. I hope Mark is well. He had something many of us want, a life partner.

Thank God. I thought he would NEVER leave!

We’ll never know when.

JOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Put a fork in this thread, it’s done.

It’s Joe

I’m sucking a lot of dick in the great beyond.

Elvis isn’t here, I asked. Guess he’s really alive. It was a big shock to Lisa Marie as well a few weeks back.

The food isn’t all that great, but the twinky waiters make up for it, as well as the caftan optional beaches.

Gotta run, word is Raquel Welch is in her way and the boys and I want to see how many facelifts Mother Juggs really had because she won’t get her make up kit until day two.

Hi, Joe!

Are the Goys and Jeff there, and if so, are they getting along?

Nope, they ain’t here……..

Link for those who haven’t seen it, but might be following this thread.

Thank you very much, ElderLez

Thank you, ElderLez! I’ve followed Joe’s threads and was not aware Mark had posted. ❤️

Many thanks for the heads-up, ElderLez.

Thanks E.L.!

R550 thank you so much!!

Greg EXPOSED!!!!!

R556 - huh? Did Greg cater the wake?

Don’t mind R556, R557. He is selfish and rude. Only someone with no manners would come to this thread and post that.

Can’t you just picture him, sitting at home with his MAGA cap. A class act.

558 posts and still dead.

Mark, wherever you are, I hope you're doing okay.