On friends gone missing...

Ever had a friend fall off of the face of the earth.. possibly literally?

I just wrote an e-mail to check in on someone who, at one point in time a couple years back, was most certainly a best friend. We've kept in HORRIBLE touch, as seems to be the case with most married friends, just a fact, and I'd recently heard a rumor about her maybe getting a divorce and maybe moving to, oh, Japan. Obviously, it seemed too ludicrous to possibly be true. I mean, she lived in Japan before, still had friends there, but c'mon. Last time I knew her goal was to move with her hubby to Maine. A far off land, for certain, but not Japan. But she hadn't been so good about returning my e-mails as of late. I knew I owed her another contact to figure out what was going on.

Well, I just got her out of office reply. She has definitely gotten divorced (maiden name reappeared) and has definitely moved to Japan.

I am hurt beyond belief, but also incredibly sad. I'm unsure why she wouldn't reach out to me, when she's clearly endured so much. She is a private person, certainly, but we always seemed to get each other and be able to chat. I would have at least appreciated an appearance on a mass e-mail announcing her move to the other face of the planet, but my guess is one didn't go out, period.

I'm truly at a loss.