Carnival of MS Bloggers #49

Welcome to the Carnival of MS Bloggers, a bi-weekly compendium of thoughts and experiences shared by those living with multiple sclerosis.

Sherry (aka momdukes) blogs at HealthCentral. She is one to always share a kind word or two and often makes me smile. I hope you enjoy her Walk Through Photographs.

MS through photographs, tell me your thoughts.......

Butterfly Kisses

Each morning regardless of MS, a kiss is what wakes me up!

Come Sit With Me

Sometimes when I am feeling down, I find a nice place to sit and to be alone with my thoughts.

The Lone Bench

Sometimes when I need a place to go and gather my thoughts, I look for a "Lone Bench."

Summer's Last Blooms

Summer has come to an end, so I go and sit among the last blooms, MS & all.

Among the final blooms, MS does not exist.

I hope you have enjoyed this little journey with me. It is like Calgon, just for a moment it takes me away! MS gives us all a hard time sometimes, but we all manage to find that happy place

sherry/smomdukes

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Nadja of Living! with MS and Poems from the Blue Plane shares a powerful reflection on relationships and house-cleaning. Perhaps its best not to confuse love with vacuuming.

"Love" in a Vaccum
I feel a rant coming on--

You told me you loved me
So when I got "sick"
You showed me you "cared" by vacuuming.
You were a damn good vacuumer
Very thorough--
I felt guilty because I was too ill to help.

I grew stronger as time passed.
I wanted to return your love so I vacuumed.
I was tired the next day.
You were angry--
It was my fault I was sick,
I dared to vacuum and I brought this on myself.
You forbade me to vacuum.

More time passed--
I vacuumed again.
I emptied the vacuum
But I "Did it wrong"
And left you a mess.
Out of "love"
You cleaned it up.
Again, you forbade me to vacuum.

I vacuumed again.
I was sick the next day.
Later, I wanted to vacuum again but the vacuum was full--
I asked how to empty it and you told me,
"You are not allowed to vacuum.
I will not teach you to empty the vacuum,
Then you won't be able to.
I'll do it for you, don't worry baby.
Save your energy to do nice things for yourself."

I saved energy by not vacuuming.
I went to yoga.
I wrote part of a book.
I painted a picture.
I had lunch with my sister.
I celebrated me just like you told me to.
I felt good about me.
I was happy.

You got angry.
"If you have so much energy,
Maybe you could help out more."

"Ok, how do I empty the vacuum?"

"Oh, it's not the vacuuming--
I didn't take it over so you could go to yoga.
I clean so you will have more energy."

"Great, then you don't mind if I go to yoga?"

"Well, it's ok if you plan one or two of your own activities but only if you save some energy to do things with me."

"Ok, so you resent my free time?
I can do more around here.
You should have fun too."

"No, I don't mind doing this.
I want to help you.
I want to show you that I care.
Let me help you."

"Ok, are you sure you don't need my help?"

"No, I'm good."

"What do you want to do today?"

"Oh, I kinda planned my own day while you were sleeping."

"You did? I thought you wanted to hang out."

"You slept too long."

"I thought you wanted me to take care of myself."

"I do but you slept until 10:00."

"I'm sorry. I'm ready to hang out now. Just tell me when you are ready. I'll just hang around."

"Oh, you should just go to yoga or take a walk with your sister."

"Yeah, but I want to hang out with you."

"I think I'll just do my own thing--"

I can still sense the depth of your love. It is like an ocean that I almost drowned in.

********************

Richard regularly cracks me up. If you haven't yet, please go visit his blog at Everyone Here is Jim Dandy.

My Newly Discovered Active Lifestyle

The first thing I decided to do after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis was to climb a mountain. Why? I don't know. I guess because it was there, and it just seemed like the natural response to being essentially crippled.

Curiously, as I flipped through the pages of various MS magazines, I found that almost everyone else having MS had already decided to do the same thing, and moreover had for the most part already done it. (I know this because there were pictures).

I determined therefore to not only climb a mountain, but to do so in the dead of winter, preferably in the midst of a blizzard. A blizzard of unprecedented proportions. And a hurricane on top of that, if at all possible.

Just now I'm still waiting for the proper weather conditions, and in the meantime collecting the needful supplies in anticipation of the day. Ropes, for instance, grappling hooks, a decent pair of boots, a stocking cap and ear muffs, mittens (naturally), a loaf of bread for a crumb trail, and of course my various medications, as well as candy bars and cigarettes. I figure the Copaxone will stay cold enough in the expected climate (which is good, because I certainly do not intend on lugging a refrigerator up the side of a mountain--not in my condition).

In preparation for the big day--by way of toning up, I mean--I have begun to look into the idea of marathon running, as I see (also from the magazines) that this form of endurance exercise, though seemingly quite out of the question, is actually quite common among MS sufferers--preferred, though only slightly so, above hang gliding and minor league baseball.

Who knew that a disease would turn me into a sporting fanatic? God works in strange ways indeed.


This concludes the 49th edition of the Carnival.

The next Carnival of MS Bloggers will be hosted here on December 3, 2009. Please remember to submit a post (via email) from your blog of which you are particularly proud, or which you simply want to share, by noon on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

Thank you.

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