I came here in '99 and first met another member in person later that year. Since then I've met, oh, dozens, some of them now very near and dear by now. I'm bad at keeping up email correspondence. I like to visit people, for example, Paula, whom I've made maybe a dozen trips to Florida to visit, not that she lives near a beach or anything.
But she hates it when I cry, so I'll say no more about her post above, for now.
So. About the forum. Yes, it comes and goes and will enjoy more peaks and valleys. I think it's healthiest when new people are greeted sincerely and maybe fostered a bit in PMs. The way to have more intimacy, IMNSHO, is to become more involved in caring. I haven't read all the threads yet, but I wonder how many people have welcomed rose or asked her whose heart she refers to. So, rose, who is he, this romantic admirer of yours? I'll look for your reply in the check-in thread, or anywhere else you want to put it.
I've been away, too, traveling and dealing with medical issues and remodeling a kitchen--ack! --difficult but fun. I don't know why I don't post so much any more. I suppose it's that I've just said it all so many times and don't want to spend the rest of my days talking about PD to the exclusion of everything else.
Sleep. Now.
Jaye