Thank you
I just sent this in an email to a friend, and I realized as I was writing it that I should probably post it here as well:

And thanks for your message. I feel a bit sheepish and guilty now, because really, I’m fine. I feel guilty that I didn’t get to know Josh better, but at the same time a little relieved because his loss hasn’t affected me much. I was mostly worried and sad at how his family would take it… but having spoken to them, I realize now that they’re all much stronger people than I thought. They’ve got a good support network around them, and really, it’s silly of me to think that my being there would make a great deal of difference (while I’m sure they would appreciate it). I’m still very, very lucky in that I haven’t had to deal with the loss of someone close to me. I think that’s why I tend to freak out in these situations, because I have no idea how I would deal with it.

So thank you for your kind thoughts and messages. It seems weird to think that the well wishes of a group of random Internet friends can be a positive force in the world, but I think it probably is. At the very least, I hope you guys have been inspired to give your loved ones a call and tell them how much you care about them. As for me, I still feel a little bit like I’m living on the space station, in that I’m so far physically removed from what’s happening over there. That’s the situation though, and there are lots of folks besides me who have to deal with the same reality. We do the best we can. I guess it’s back to normal now…