The suggestion was made that we come by and pay our last respects to asl before she is put to rest. Like Siri, I'm a sentimental person. (No surprise, I'm sure.) Even though asl has become a spam haven, killing off a place that changed my life is hard. I've been around a year and come to know and care about the people who post. I'm delighted to find aslm and have the moderation. I can read what I want to read and not have to go thru all this garbage to do so. But, asl was once like that, too. Where else could I stumble across my favorite author and trade hilarious emails? Where else could I find a virtual city and have to climb in the window of my own bookstore? (and learn more about beer than I ever wanted to know?) Where else could I get to know two guys, Dave and Ovid, who will always have my respect and admiration? Where else could I participate in threads on ironing or coffee that made me laugh until my sides hurt?Catnip got me through the flaming I got my second day of surfing and lots of mistakes. Thank you. Where else could I have gotten renamed so many times I wondered who I was? I found a group of witty, intelligent, caring, accepting women that let me share, stumble, listen and learn as I went through one of the hardest years in my life. I got to share the joy of a wedding, cry thru news of a death, cheer because of a pregnancy, worry through illnesses, laugh thru the antics of shoe's pets and kids, spend even MORE time at the bookstore, video store, and music sections hunting for shoe recommendations. I found the courage to meet shoes in other cities and invite them here. I shared more of myself than I'd ever done and found no one laughed at me. ASL gave us a place to learn and grow together. I found sisters I'd waited all my life to know. (And I was forced to use more maps and atlases than I had in my whole life. Heck, I was forced to be...global!) Sunny- I've told you this before but I can't say it enough. Thank you for making the moderated group a reality. For those of you still lost in the spam fog here, go to alt.shoe.lesbians.moderated http://www.bareco.com/aslm has all the info you will need. I don't think I could say goodbye if there were not a place to still meet the shoes. We've been thru battles and we've been thru triumphs- we are a family of sorts. That means a lot to this shoe. Joules grateful feet