I don't know if anyone will see this, but maybe writing about it will help me cope.
When a month or more goes by and I don't hear from a friend, I worry. Then it becomes just me reaching out. The same thing happened with my dearly departed friend Sterling. I had no idea how ill he was, he did not let on.
I want to be a good friend to those whom I care about, however it's hard when people don't speak up. At the end of the day, I have to take care of myself, too.
:(
Oddly enough I heard from a few of those friends who seemingly had fallen off the Earth. They are safe. I'll let them make the next contact.
@JeniRizio Little advice based on personal experience:
I fall off the edge of the Earth / go dark pretty frequently because... well, frankly, I forget about people (probably at least partly partly because of my episodic memory amnesia) - and even when I remember, I'm often too exhausted to feel like reaching out & navigating the social situation.
Maybe your friends are falling off the edge of the Earth for similar reasons. If they are, I doubt they'd mind if you said hi out of the blue :)
@IrelandTorin I did, more than once. After 2x, I let them return the favour.