Thanks for your kind words, theoneRogue420. I wish half of them were really true!!

The truth is that I didn't move past RSD with grace and dignity, at least not as I see it. When I was a teenager, I was a flat-out mess. I looked good on paper, but I assure you that RSD (and not being believed about it) turned me into an emotional wreck. I'm still trying to recover, I'm still trying to get those experiences that I missed during that time.

I wish I had known this stuff five or six years ago! My parents always told me that high school doesn't matter in the long run, but who believes that when they're actually in high school? What teenager accepts life with no friends, of staying home on weekends while everyone else is having fun? I certainly didn't.

It's only been the past few years that I've begun to feel happy with life. It was really hard for me, but it's possible. College was a great experience. I now have close friends I can trust too, which is something I never had in high school.

It's easy to philosophize about high school now that I'm out of it. It's not so easy to see this stuff while in the situation! But I write from experience that things CAN get better. For instance, people mature...and most quickly leave the stage of being "scared" of the "sick kid." Some never get there, but most do.

I can say that I've been able to do basically what I want in the past 4 or 5 years, with some accomodations here and there. I've graduated from college. I've traveled (spent six months out of the country). Some of this is only possible because I've got my symptoms down to a somewhat manageable level. Some of it is because I've decided that sometimes it's worthwhile to endure the pain in order to do what I want to do. And it's not easy.

When all of my friends went off on the first hike and I couldn't go, I felt pretty bad. It was the first week of the program, and I thought that I would be missing an important bonding opportunity. But it turned out that they had missed me, and nobody had spent that day forgetting my existence. It reminded me that I need to have a bit more faith in people than I did when I was younger. It's evidence that people really do mature and accept that not everyone is perfectly physically able.

Wow, another long philosophical post! I'm going back to sleep now, it's only 8:15. As far as I'm concerned, there should only be one 8:15, and it should be during primetime!

-Betsy