Well I just needed to post a positive posting (what a novel idea after the
last few I have posted.)  I have had such an incredible 4 days.

First, the cipro for 7 days has made an incredible difference in what I
thought was pain from the shingles and from the relief of the obviously bad
bladder or whatever it was infection.  Still don't feel 100% but am not in
agony and Thursday for the first time slept 5 hours in a row!  That is a
miracle in itself.  The shingle pain is still there but in the background.

Next - my incredible week started Friday.  I have this fantastic support
group of friends.  We have been quilting for 7 years now and within our
group of 8 we have seen 1 woman in our group whose husband committed suicide
in such a way as she would a) find him b) his last conversation would make
her incredibly guilty and c) no one outside the family could see there was
any problems;  1 other woman in our group has gone through a fight with
breast cancer - a fast and aggressive kind and she is winning - just had a
one year anniversary and all is clean so far; and of course my disastrous
year where they came to my house every Monday and quilted whether I was
sitting drooling from all my meds or out of it completely on pain control.
Financial problems, kid problems, husband problems, job problems - those all
are the everyday problems of every group but our Mondays are quilting days
and we solve everything then!  Better than any pill we laugh and laugh and
laugh (oh and drink coffee and eat chocolate or cookies but that is just a
sideline).  Twice a year we do a retreat - one at my house or this year at
one of the other woman's house and once on the road - a FART or Fabric
Acquiring Road Trip.  The FART is really an excuse to buy fabric that we
will never live long enough to sew at as cheap a price as possible, drink
wine, laugh, stay at a hotel cramming as many people in a room as possible.
This year on the weekend we added another trip - we went to Vancouver, BC
and stayed at one of our group's condo.

Now fabric is $20.00 a metre up in our quilt shops as compared to $7.00 in
the states for good fabric.  We hit several shops this weekend and were
buying fabric at $2.00 a metre.  Needless to say some of it was butt ugly -
really butt ugly!  Most was incredibly wonderful though and we bought lots
and lots - I mean the clerks were loving us!  We laughed as we dug in piles
for treasures and each of the 2 nights we were away we would cut into the
material and buy each others treasures.  We were passing the same $2.00
bills back and forth, drinking wine (water for me) eating good food and
laughing all our cares away.  We slept on couches, floors and in my case a
bed.  8 of us in a small condo.  In 3 full days not a nasty word, no sad
moments and encouragement galore.  They knew I am in bad shape and bullied
me along, encouraging me every step of the way and when I was ready to
collapse brought foot stools, ice packs, water and food.  Oh and more
laughter.  Each night I would drag myself to bed and drag myself up in the
morning to start again.  I made it through the weekend.  And it was worth
every sore joint and every dragging foot.

I figured today I would collapse again but the sun was shining and i got a
phone call from a distance cousin from Portland.  He and his wife flew here
this morning in their Cessna; we talked for 2 hours straight (I only met
them once 6 years ago at a retreat) and I drove them to their hotel.  They
are taking my husband and I to Il Divo concert tomorrow night and we are
taking them to dinner (they had 2 free tickets due to a friend's bad luck
and knee surgery).  We had laughs again and I felt as if my life was all
sunshine.  Home in time to go to quilting for an hour (have to use this
fabric somehow) and then hockey game at my inlaws.

People ask how I go on sometimes in the past few years.  Weeks like this and
friends like my Monday Morning quilting group; the ASA group and family are
the reason.  I hurt, badly, still waiting for treatment that is scary and
again last one approved, don't have a rental house to move to yet but move
out by June 15th! but that doesn't matter!  I have an incredible family and
friends, a great support system and reasons to laugh.  The tulips and
magnolias are in full bloom, clematis are almost out.  And laughing costs
nothing.

So find a good friend, keep with the support here, try to surround yourself
with people who are positive instead of negative and can see the reason in
things.  Believe in something - whether hope, conventional medication, moon
rings (the name of my favorite quilt I have made) or the joy in singing
(even if you are tone deaf - if you enjoy it sing!).  Continue to burn
candles but maybe instead of waiting for something we can't achieve yet we
need to be hoping the recipients of our thoughts and prayers find hope and
support to get them through things.  Laughter and Sunshine!  Sounds sappy
but it really is the best medicine around.

On my cd this morning when I turned on the car after the weekend was John
Lennon's Imagine.

Yup who would have imagined 3 months ago when I was so down that despite the
pain and crap in my body my soul could have such a great week.

Will burn that candle tonight and hope that you feel that one day this week
as Donna and I felt.  Just a little bit of sunshine and spring.

Thanks for your post Donna.

Kelly