You know we talk about what we are going through healthwise and I guess the reason I keep my happy mood up most of the time is because of the support I have in my life. I told someone the other day we needed a mood that said almost there because sometimes I'm not quite happy but I don't want to put up the sad mood.

I have such good friends and family. They have been there for me through everything.

I lost my husband Bill in Nov. He was my life and it's been the hardest thing I have ever lived through, 2nd and third being losing Mom and Dad.

My daughter has been there for me all through this. She lets the boys stay with me a lot so I won't be alone. My ex-son-in-law has been the same way.

I have 2 great stepkids back home but I talk to them a lot. My step-daughter just got diagnosed with diabetes so she's haviing it rough.

my stepson is so great to me. When he was here I gave him Bill's clothes that he wanted, his watches and his belt buckle that had Bill on it because it is his first name also.

I have my PCP who has came through for me through all I have been through. If he knew what I was going through today he would be giving me hell for letting things get to me.

I have so many friends from the old forum that came here to the new one. The ones that didn't, call me and email me. I have met 2 in Denver when I had my TOS surgery. They came to the hospital to see me and one helped me through a lot.

Course there's all of the ones here that have stood by me through everything that I go through and have gone through.

I have a lot of good friends around here. They are always calling me and checking on me. My best friend is around 70 and is in the nursing home. I fear I'm going to lose her soon.

I have my son-in-law that thankfully has a good job and has helped me get my new place and try to move on since losing Bill.

I have my nurses that help me and give me support in everyway.

As I said, there are some very good people on this forum that have been a Godsend to me.

I started this thread so that others might come on here and tell me what they have to be thankful for in their lives so that we can think about the positive things we have.

It's hot here tonight. The humidity was up really high today but I did get out. I went to the pool and watched Dustin and Devin show me how they have learned some new diving skills. They are so proud of what they can do as I am of them.

Hope all of you are having a great night and think about the good things God has given us.

Ada

Ada,
I am always thankful for you.
For all your problems, you find time to check in on me and send the kindest thoughts and love. Just the right days, just when the need is the strongest.
I am so hoping the VNS can be readjusted and you find great help it gives.
Love
Di
PS I posted on a thread Frogga started before I saw this.

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Ada,
What a nice thought, to start a thread like this! Thank you.

I have many things that I am grateful for. First and foremost, I am grateful and thankful that I have my kids. I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve them...but whatever it is, I am glad. Together, we have beaten so very many odds. You see, I was only 17 when I got PG with Meghan. I had her at 18, and Jay at 20. I wound up divorced when I was 22, after 5 years of living in a marriage from Hell. You name it, it went on between my husband and I. Not a place for me, and especially not a place for my kids....so I left.

According to statistics, Meghan should have dropped out of High school and already be a momma herself. Jay should have also dropped out, and probably have fathered a few kids by now. They both should have had HUGE discipline and behavioral problems. At least Jay should have already had a criminal record of some sort by now. They should both have some sort of addiction problem...and especially have a problem with alcohol (since their father is an alcoholic himself). This is what you hear “everyone” say kids from a broken home, with a teenage mother and alcoholic father that doesn’t have much to do with them..right? If you add in that I have stayed single, and I wound up disabled on top of that....with drugs in the house that the kids know about....well....that just kinda nails the whole thing shut for them and their future. At least according to the “experts” out there.

But, some how....for reasons I don’t know....I was blessed with two of the best and most wonderful children on the face of the earth. Neither one of my kids EVER had any disciplinary problems at all. They sure haven’t run afoul of the law. They don’t do drugs...and they don’t drink. Both have graduated High School. Meghan has gone on to the Community College here in town to take classes for her Cosmetology Certificate, and has been on the Dean’s List the whole time she has been there (3 semesters so far)! She is engaged to be married next year (she is shooting for June) to the boy she has been dating since she was in the 10th grade. Jay has gotten accepted to a Private School, for which the competition to get in is SUPER high. He has set his sights on being a pilot and getting his Aerospace Science degree, with at least to other minors (with a possible 3rd...as he wants to learn German, and is considering a minor in that). Meghan hasn’t wound up pg, and Jay hasn’t gotten anyone that way.

Somehow, we have beaten the odds not once, but twice! Like I said, I am thankful and grateful for my kids, and for the young adults that they have turned out to be.

I am thankful for my family. Without them, I don’t know where the kids and I would have been, or what we would have done. Especially for that almost 2 year period when I was fighting for my SSD. I am thankful and grateful for my parents, and that we were able to overcome some HUGE obstacles in our past (I was disowned when I got pg and married). I am thankful that we were able to all come together...and be closer than we ever were before. I am thankful that happened BEFORE I wound up with RSD, and I am grateful that we have only become closer since RSD.

I am more thankful and grateful then I can say for my brother. I thank God each and every day that he is at a better place in his life, and that I am able to call him up and talk to him. That I get to see him in person is a gift beyond any thanks I can think of. For so long, I thought that the next time that I would see him wound be at his funeral. Thank God that is not the case anymore.....and that I just heard from Greg last night. That wouldn’t have been possible only a few years ago.

I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful that the people that I thought were my friends are not around anymore....and I am thankful for the true friends that have stuck by my side through all of these years. Some of those friends are folks from the Forums. Some that I have known from the very first time that I ever got on line to look up and then chat about RSD. I am thankful for all of them, because they pulled me through MANY sleepless nights, and some of my deepest darkest depressions. Without them...without the old BT board (LOL, and the one before that, and the one before that! LOL) and this place (and ICQ when we were all chatting on that), I don’t think that I would be here today. There were times that the thing that helped me the most was being able to log on, and either go to the ICQ thing to chat, or to the old BT chatroom to chat. We would have a BALL in there, and it would always lift my spirits. That also happened when I was able to join in supporting a new person too. To have a place that I could go, to get support, to have a shoulder when I needed one, or to get a laugh when I needed one (even if I didn’t think I did), was a huge gift to me. It still is, even though there have been so many changes.

I am thankful for the folks that take the time to read my long posts. Thankful when something that I say can help someone in some way (if they have been able to read it), and thankful just to know that there are folks out there that care.

In some ways, as crazy as it might sound, I am thankful for RSD. The reason for that is because I have learned many lessons since RSD came to live with me. Lessons that I might not have learned, not learned as well, or maybe would have taken much longer to learn, if it weren’t for RSD FORCING me to learn them. Maybe, it was God’s way of getting my attention....and getting through my very stubborn hard head that I needed to learn these things. That I needed to learn to be more Patient; that I needed to learn how to Accept things that can’t be changed, and how to work with (or around) them as best I can; that I needed to learn to be more Empathic then I was before, even though I thought that I had a lot of empathy for others. I have MORE now. I needed to learn to have more Tolerance in all kinds of ways. To tolerate yucky things that I couldn’t change or avoid, to tolerate uncomfortable and painful situations and not loose my temper (I have a very bad temper), and to tolerate other folks that are not having good times, and that lash out at others in their pain and panic. All of those things are things that RSD has kinda sorta forced me to learn. SO, I am thankful for that.

I am thankful that I can wake up each and every day. I am thankful that I still have my mobility. I am thankful for each and every second that I have been able to share with my children....and with other folks that I care about. I am thankful for my furry babies too, as they offer their own types of comfort and support....and force me to do things on days that I don’t want to get out of bed.

I am thankful too, that I have so much to be thankful for! Thanks again, Ada, for starting this thread! I hope that more folks join in and add what they are thankful and grateful for.

Love and
Jose

DiMarie thanks for your kind words. One thing I have seen in all of the years on the TOS forum and RSD forum and others you have been a constant steadfast asset to all of us. Even through what you have been through this year you have stayed around and helped so many others. You are intelegent, kind, funny, helpful. I am thankful for your years of friendship. I am thankful also that you have your family to help you through what you have been through. No one should have to go through life without loved ones.

Jose, You brought up some good memories. The fun we had on the OBT was unforgetable. The kindness, the love, the friendships, the laughter. There was such an array of good people on there. I still have a lot of them in my life one way or another as I'm sure you do.

I can remember all of your stories as your kids grew up and what you were going through. You have came a long way as have I. You are very blessed to have your Children and blessed that they have chose good paths to follow. What you need to remember too is that you got them to where they are today along with their intelligence and good hearts.

I wanted to start this post because I know we donot just have trials and tribulations to go through. In the back of my mind I try to keep the thought that I have some of the greatest people in my life and have had.

I'm thankful for my sisters and brothers also. After losing 2 sisters and a brother to cancer, I still have 6 left. One of my sisters is coming up Sat. I am so excited about that we are going to try and take in a lot of sites here. I'm worried about the heat and humidity and my feet but I am hopeful that we can get to do some things. She's ok with just sitting on the front porch though and talking. She's been keeping me going also even more so since Nov.

I hope others will reply to this thread. There is a time and place for everything and we need to find a place in our hearts and lives to be thankful for what we do have.

Love both of you.

Ada

Gratitude I was told a long time ago when I was tempted to start a pity party to grab a piece of paper and make a gratitude list that it would turn my mood around. It's one of the best tools I have now.
Even if it's just the basics like a roof over my head and food in my belly
I do have so much to be thankful for and that is what keeps me going.
First a friend who told me about this board many months ago .....knowing I can come on here any time of day and read all the hope that is here For all those who do the research, even if I can't understand what it means at least I know there is research being done.
For the first PM I got, it kept me coming back here.
My husband, I don't know what I'd do without him and his ability to make me laugh even when I'm in all this pain.
My friends and family for trying to understand and helping me do the things I used to be able to do on my own. They help without taking my dignity away.
My sister who is coming home from Iraq next month...safe and sound...after being gone for over a year from her own children and husband. She has been an inspiration to me.
My first grandbaby is due in September...it's a girl. I can't wait to meet her.
My camera, for helping me focus on the beauty that is all around me.
My PM doctor who has stood by me in all my denial and frustration.
I could go on and on....and I am thankful for that
Thanks Ada for making me stop and think

Jeanne

i am happy for my two wonderful children, their spouses, and six wonderful grandsons, and twin boys on the way!
i am happy for my cats that love me whenever and no matter what.
i am happy for my gardens that i managed to still keep up again this years.
i am happy for all of you and all your ideas and good advice and your never ceasing way of always being here to support each other.
i am happy i met sue here who has lived so much the same life as i have that it is scarey and yet wonderfully comforting.
love, joan

wow joan,
These things too I am thankful for. But I have only one son married with a grandson.
Di

HI DI,
aren't grandchildren the best???? i adore mine and can't wait for the twins to be born!! mine are 19,17,15,14,7,5 and two on the way!!!!!! joy!
joan

We all have those Grandkids to keep us going don't we.

Dustin and Devin just left here. Dustin's birthday is Saturday and he is planning a swimming party. He will be 14 and Devin will be 13 in Oct.

Joan, 8 grandkids. That's great. I love babies. I would love to have some babies that little too. Yo are truely blessed. Oh by the way, are they spoiled. LOL

Ada

I was getting dinner ready before I came on here and I was thinking to myself, what a bad week I had. The 2 falls, losing my house, but then I thought of so much that I have.
Iam thankful for my husband. My 3 daughters. My 5 wonderful and cute grandkids.
Iam thankful that even though things seem bad, we have stuck together.
Iam thankful that I have found all of you.
Iam thankful that I have come to terms with my sister, she'll never change, she has a house, she,s healthy but, things matter too much. I love her very much and hope she finds happiness some day.
And last but not least, Iam thankful for Joan. She knows what my life has been like from the start and I know I have found a good friend.

Sue K.