I shared this with a friend last evening, and her response was: Well, THAT's depressing!

In retrospect, probably it was. It was kind of a depressing day, as I stood there, big as life, mailing out my application for disability.

Not that I wasn't already disabled before I mailed the thing, but you know, it's kind of like seeing a loved one's obituary in the paper. It puts a big old "REAL" stamp on it. *CLOBBER*

Does your friend have MS, B2Y? I don't think your poem was depressing....just realistic. Those who don't have MS just cannot relate to what you expressed.

She has lyme disease and fibromyalgia, so she does "get it". She and I don't always wax philosophical or grow melancholy on the same days!

Yeah....some days things strike me in different ways, too. I guess it just depends on how I'm feeling when I read/hear things.

I thought it was very well put. I copied it so I can read or share it later when the need arises.

We were watching old videos last night. That's me running with DS, being his Horsie? I sort of remember that but hard from this chair. I told DH (jokenly?) he was one of them, a non-MSer.

B2U, your poem is great and right on-target. I'm printing it out and also saving it on computer.

I am now able to really see LIFE through my son's eyes. And the irony is, he is near blind. He's been ill his whole life and it's normal for him. After feeling like CARP for many yrs myself, I understand being on the outside and inside.

He just picks himself up every day, goes to work and gets through each day w/o complaining. I haven't mastered that part yet. (the complaining)

We are all still learning from each other, even here at NT.

I think the word she was looking for was "sad".

It is sad to have a chronic and progressive disease, and to face that transition to our own little world.

But most of us do come to accept it, cause we really have no choice.

Cherie

I agree with Cherie, it is sad. But, it is truth and beautifully put truth. I feel just the same . I am an outsider. I hate it. I hate it for me, I hate it most for my child. She needs an insider for a parent.

I remember the day when I was normal. I dream of that day again.

Why can society not accept us? Why do people look down on us? We did not ask for this. It just happened. Why are we outsiders ??????????????????

Hmm, I don't think I've felt looked down upon, nor even really not accepted. I've mostly felt misunderstood, and...well, just not the SAME. I kind of liked being average.

I know that "normal" is whatever you are, for you (or you or you or you) but "average" is different from "normal".

MS has affected so many areas of my life, even though not as devastatingly as for some of you, that almost no matter what group I'm in ('cept this one!) I feel like singing that old Sesame Street song: "One Of These Things is Not Like The Others, one of these things doesn't belong...."

I don't even really think it's anybody's fault. It's just the way it is.