Wow, so here I am... 15 years after I created this thread.
When I first started this thread I was an angsty teenager in high school with hardly any friends. I turned to Gaia for friendship and belonging, and ended up making many friends that helped me in so many ways. Some of them I still talk to, and they are some of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Those of you that I don't still talk to, I wholeheartedly miss your great conversation and companionship here online.
I used to spend hours on Gaia, grinding for gold (when it was actually hard to acquire certain items) and chatting here with great friends of mine that I had never met in real life. When I got out of school, I would rush home to get on here and chat. I looked forward to it each and every day. It was really phenomenal to spend so much time with such great people, most of whom who's faces I had never seen.
As time went on, Gaia went downhill, and in my opinion, it died - it ended up becoming something else entirely. It was never the same and it is now just a shell of its former self. Sometimes I feel that it is the same with me.
Every once in a while I would jump back on to see that almost everyone else had also left. It was sad, really. It still is. But I had so many great times here. So many great times.
I have updated my front page to reflect the many people that have made this place a great place to hang out. Those of you that still stick around, I hope you know it means a lot to me. Even when we go years without talking. This thread reminds me of a much simpler time (cliche, I know) where I worried a lot less and had a lot more fun.
I just wanted to say thank you, and wherever life may take you, know that you are loved. Know that you will always have a special place in my heart and know that I can never forget all of those that I have spent so many years with. Thank you for being here through it all with me. heart