hi Paula

I'm reminiscing today (in fact, I reminisced until after 2:00 am this morning!). Something happened yesterday that made me stop and reevaluate where I am going . . . wait . . . where I WANT and NEED to be going with what time I have left.

Yes, my friends - I am supposed to be uplifting you who visit this site - no that's the PLM site. This is the "brainy" site (Paula and I just discused this yeterday), where I have been told numerous times that people (some) were afraid to post here because we were so "brainy." I'd rather think of the majority of this crowd as "experienced."

Bear with me; I have to get this out of my system. We say so flippantly "Time flies," and indeed it does when watching kids or grandkids grow up. Already our 6-year-old granddaughter doesn't want to sleep over as often at Pappy & Nana's - that hurts. Remember when your kids didn't want you to lean over and give a little peck on the cheek whenever you dropped them off ast school? Or how about this one (maybe I'm the only mother experiencing this), remember when your Junior high-age kid wanted you to drop them off a block away from school? Geez - now it's too unsafe.

Time does change things. When I was a princnipal I didn't need to make notes as I walked down the hall of my little school of 500 pre-K through 5th grades. I would come back to the office with all of those requests "in my head" (no kidding - 10-15) and could jot them on my calendar from memory. Now I can walk from the computer room to the bedroom ad wonder, "What the heck did I come after?"

But I want to contribute to society (and it's not all for my glory, Paula). There are many, many things I do that no one ever knows about. Not fussing, but I often feel like you are talking to me (and others, of course) about doing what we do for glory only. Sure - EVERYBODY wants a little credit for doing something, but just don't let that be your driving force - and it's not mine, although some think otherwise.

We may not have good memories (i.e. remembering stuff to do), but PD hasn't zapped our creativity. Remember our Grassroots Connection (GRC) days? PAN used our website as their mode of communication before they built up their own. But ours was better - why? - because it came from the PATIENT perspective - not politics (although it was in tere) and not to appease every reader. It was hard - sometimes cold - facts. But it had a personal element - rememer the tribute to Milly Kondracke? I dare say you can find another site who kept the hundreds of comments sent in to preserve the difference she and Mort Kondracke made in finding a cure for Parkinson's.

Carolyn was the webmaster and Linda our 4th blade of grass - nothing passed by us that wasnt on GRC pronto (almost BEFORE it happened!)

I wonder if anybody wants GRC back? We did interviews (some by email - some live), and an impressive list. ohhhhhh! gotta stop - back pain and I'm going off - more lat..............