I'm a Doctor Who fan. When I discovered the show in 2005 slowly began to devour as much as i could. I bought the audio CDs too. Among them was Doctor Who and the Pescatons. Its a nice little story, but short. So its CD release contained an additional CD, with an interview of Lis Sladen. On it she mentioned a memorable encounter with a Whovian who said that the show had helped them through a difficult period in their life. This particular anecdote was rather powerful. I tried to empathise with that fan. I loved Doctor Who, but at the end of the day its just a tv show (with associated books and audio etc). Yeah, its important, but I couldn't say that it had helped me survive a tough period.
A few years ago I went back to university to study biology. Prior to this, I did not have many real life friends. At school I had friends, but that was at school. Once the bell rang I didn't see them. Then I went off to university for an arts degree. Again I had some friends in my class, sometimes we'd hang out in-between classes! But that was it. Then my arts days was over. A year and a half later i disappeared to Asia for five months. Then another half year of isolation before the biology study started.
Suddenly I had friends! My little collection of friends began to expand. More friends!! We'd regularly hang out together in between classes. We'd work on assignments together. We'd meet up for dinner after uni, or have a meet up on the weekends. They were friends that I could tag in funny memes on facebook. Life was great! And i didn't really notice it, but Doctor Who was slowly fading away into the background.
The science life is over now. I handed in my thesis to be marked late last year. In February this year I handed in the hard copy of it. Last month i graduated. And its the same with my friends. Their university lives are over, and are now getting on with the next chapters of their lives. Getting jobs, finding love, moving cities.....
I feel almost like the good times are over. We still meet up, but its becoming less frequent, with less of the gang being able to make it :/ I feel like this golden age is over. I'm slowly returning to my isolated, alone state. And its painful.
So back to the beginning. I look back to me before the good times, and how much I enjoyed Doctor Who. Watching it. Listening to it. Reading it. Going online to hear rumours and speculate. And now I realise just how much this show and my love for it did help me all those years ago when I was isolated and alone.
Thank you Doctor Who. You were a life saver.