Thank you for the kind messages. I'd like to say a few words....actually quite a few....to whoever might read this. First off, yesterday was a day of complete despair for me (I think we all know what those are like.) I posted a thread expressing this, and when it came to the point where 16 people had read what I wrote, but no one had responded in any way, it just felt like one more confirmation of the idea that no one cared....I suspect that most people dealing with the demon that is depression can relate to that? So....realizing that this was only making me feel worse, I wanted to completely remove my posting, but I couldn't figure out a way to do this, so instead I just wrote what I did. So here's the thing, the feelings I expressed were NOT directed to everyone, as obviously I couldn't predict that no one would eventually leave a word or send a hug. And to those of you had not even seen my post, I was NOT directing anything at you....I would NEVER "blame" anyone for not having seen it. All I was doing by removing the original post was to (try to) protect myself from feeling even worse....seeing that even more people were hearing about my pain and then going on to the next thing, without a moment's pause. For those who might not have seen other posts of mine, I have suffered from depression since childhood. This is not the first "depression forum" I have been a part of, and I completely "get" that there are so many people in pain....so many stories, and when you're really suffering it can be difficult to even feel the motivation to type something. Plus, obviously, it would be impossible to respond to everyone, even if that was was your intention. I certainly have seen posts that I did not respond to, for whatever reason, but when I can tell that the person might really be in a desperate place, I can at least send them a hug. Maybe I'm missing something, but in my mind that's one important reason why the "Hug" button is there....to let someone know that you care....and that IS important.....whether or not you say a word. And come on, it takes a nanosecond to send a hug, can any of us really say that takes up too much time when it is someone's life that may be on the line?? I hope not. And just one more thing, as I know this is pretty long. No matter how low we may be feeling, showing kindness to others is always good for the soul. I am not even talking about myself anymore, but I think we ALL need to remember something. When another person is suffering greatly, we never can know what little thing that registers to that person as one more "hurt" may be the one that makes life unbearable for them....and I'll stop there, because I think I don't even need to finish the thought. Well, anyway, if you read this, thanks, and I'm sending hugs out to EVERYONE. I hope everyone's having the best day possible.....