ViVi Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 This post is for DBerry...... I just read your signature/profile in a recent post you made and I decided to take issue with you. You wrote that you have "no close family". Well, that may have been the case on Feb. 5 but it is certainly not the case now! The last time I looked, I think that you had 800+ 'family members'. Welcome to the family! I can't say that it's a big, happy one but I can certainly say that it's a BIG, HOPEFUL and LOVING one! ViVi Quote
Ry Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 Yes we are a family. We support each other, laugh, cry, and hang together. I don't know what I would do without all of you. Welcome to the family DBerry (I like your picture). Rochelle Yvonne (Ry) Quote
Don Wood Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 We are family --- all my brothers, sisters and me! Quote
mhutch1366 Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 That makes me feel good too, y'all..... I am an only child and a single mom, my parents are still alive but a good days drive away. While I have envied TBone his family I haven't felt quite as lonely as DBerry's post seems... close but not there yet. Can't be like that with an 8 year old loose at the house. Thanks to my extended adopted family. XOXOX MaryAnn Quote
Cindy RN Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 OK, I think that reminds me of a song We are Family, I got all my brothers (OR sisters) and me?? Sound about right? This a great place to be. Thanks for all of you. Cindy Quote
cathy Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 Dear Dan, Dont know what it is, but when I clicked to one of your post and seen your picture, you remind me of my dear dad. Your face looks so kind just like his. He would have been 72 Feb 8th..Without sounding too corny you have won a place in my heart, I have a feeling you are alot like him.. Quote
J.C. Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 I think I will try to sneak in the family as I have none at all. I can say I am alone in the world, but the world is all mine also. The friends I have all are from other countries, but we keep in touch everyday. If I am welcome aboard I will be fine I will have what I need a family. J.C. Quote
karen335 Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 Looks like DBERRY and Don Wood have a lot in common. They are both retired Chemists. Mr. Berry you are not alone. We are your family and truly care. You are in my thoughts and prayers each day. God Bless and sending cyber hugs... Karen Quote
TeeTaa Posted March 1, 2004 Posted March 1, 2004 Looks like you've started something, Big ViVi!! I'm glad we've found all these new family members, but I'm gonna let YOU tell Mama 'bout em!! Seriously - especially to DBerry, MaryAnn, J.C., and others who feel alone at times - you are our family now. Please let us be there for you whenever you need us. And after having spent the day with T-Bone, I'm reminded of another song . . . "He ain't heavy, he's my brother." Your sister in this battle, TeeTaa Quote
Elaine Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 Ok then if there are others sneaking in-- I am too! I sure hope mama doesn't mind too much! Love you all. And thinking nothing but good for you all Elaine Quote
kimblanchard Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 ViVi &TeeTaa I am the youngest of 6, my Dad and Mom were the youngest of 10 and 9. My granddad was born in 1840. He and two brothers were in the Union Army. I communicate about genealogy through e-mail with descendants of my grandfather’s brothers. It is not that I have no family, I have a vast distant family. I have many nieces and nephews and their children and grand children. After my wife died, I joined two library book clubs and the local college retired adult program and I have acquaintances and good but old neighbors. I still communicate with three friends I’ve known since the thirties. The operant word is CLOSE in the life style description that you find objectionable enough to take exception to. Before my current remission, I would go to bed with a cordless phone and the garage door opener so I could call 911 and let them in from bed if need be. The last time I needed the ambulance was for extreme anemia and I could totter around enough to get my pants on, but it took a long time. One night before I had my chest drained of a half gallon of pink fluid, I went to sleep without my oxygen hose. I awoke in a panic because I did not have the strength to rise. After about a half hour I managed to get to the hose and then had the help of my brother’s widow to take me to the hospital. She lives about 30 miles away in suburban traffic and is 73 and not all that well, but is the closest ‘family’ to me, although she has her own life. Still, she stayed with me a few days when I was weakest. SCLC is very rapid and has a 90% chance of coming back within the year. I fear that you, ViVi & TeeTaa, will not be close enough to be "my really close family" when I need help. Dan Quote
Guest Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 Well Dan it looks like you are stuck with us. We all really do care about you and your health, so please let us worry about you okay? I agree, you look like a kind man, I was drawn to your photo as well. Please let us know how you are doing. janet Quote
Guest Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 Oh, Dan, I am so very sorry that we may have offended you. We by no means intended to! We simply wanted to acknowledge that you are amongst friends and family here on the board. And were it possible, we would be there to help you physically as well. To that end, possibly the American Cancer Society in your area could provide some assistance. ViVi recently ran across a young woman in a neighboring very small community who was taking herself to chemo treatments because there was no one else to do so. Our aunt, who is very active in the local ACS, has now offered to take her (although she does not know the woman), and this is an area that the local ACS has decided to address with the funds raised through the annual Relay for Life. If there are any of you out there - Dan included - who feel as if you don't have family close by enough to help and don't have the energy/time/wherewithall to look into your local resources, and would like for someone - ANYONE - to look into them for you, please PM ViVi or me and we'll do what we can to help. And one more thing, Dan . . . you are the spittin' image of my father-in-law, so I'm gonna worry about you whether you want me to or not. Blessings to you all, Teetaa Quote
TeeTaa Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 Oops - sorry 'bout that last message coming through as being from "Guest" - I got so carried away reading messages that I forgot to log on! Y'all have a blessed day! TeeTaa Quote
ViVi Posted March 2, 2004 Author Posted March 2, 2004 Dear DBerry, I posted a reply to your response but I accidentally posted it under KatieB's subject line "Thought I'd share this with all of you" and now I can't figure out how to move it to this message, or even IF it can be moved. Tee Taa, can you help me? ViVi Quote
ViVi Posted March 2, 2004 Author Posted March 2, 2004 I hope this did it! Dear Don, I, too, am sorry if I offended you. It certainly wasn't intentional, as I hope you realize. The problem seems to have come from the word CLOSE. I guess I expect everyone's primary definition of CLOSE to be the same as mine, which has absolutely nothing to do with proximity. My family can be scattered all over the U.S. but we are extremely CLOSE in mind, soul and spirit. And when one of us needs another (or ALL) of us CLOSE in proximity, we make a beeline for home or wherever we're needed, many times dropping that all-important project or making some other sacrifice to get there. Such was the case last month when" Ms. Chairperson of Everything" Tee Taa took off with us to M D Anderson two days before the tremendous school fund-raising art extravaganza on which she had been working for over a year. Such was the case when I faced a health crisis (which I tried to keep secret) three weeks before I was to host Tee Taa's wedding at my home. One of my 'secret' trips to the doctor was interrupted by a 'sibling conference call'. The first words spoken were, "Okay, where do you want us and when?" Before it was over, I had been offered 8 kidneys (5 siblings, Mama, Bobby, and even 4-yr-old GiGi). Thank goodness I didn't have to take them up on the offer but I realized later that if I had, he/she would have been left with only one kidney while I had two. What a sacrifice! What a definition of CLOSE! And speaking of CLOSE, I wish you all could feel the CLOSEness of this community in which we were all raised. It's a small town (pop. approx. 2500) in a rural county (pop. approx. 7,000) and there is no BIG money here - just lots of hard workers and loving folks. Besides all the food, gift certificates, cards, prayers, errands, and countless and varied other things that have been given TBone's family in the past 2 months, the community has also given in excess of $20,000 cash to help defray the cost of his medical treatment and incidental family expenses. Now, I know that money is certainly not everything but it has been a tremendous help and it has been given so lovingly. And the thing is, the community did the same thing for someone else last month, and for someone else the month before that, and the month before that........ It never seems to give out of love. TBone's bunch (all of us) is truly, truly blessed and we know it. And speaking for myself, no matter what trials and suffering I have faced or I face in the future, I know that I have already lived my heaven (at least a part of it!) here on earth. ViVi _________________ Tbone's older sister (by 2 years) pictured with my husband, Bobby, and our 13 year old daughter, GiGi. By the way, the family pics were made 01/03/04 at Gypsy Woods, our home. Any fishermen/women out there? COME ON DOWN! Quote
mhutch1366 Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 Dan, What part of the country are you in? I would be surprised if you were where none of our 900 are... XOXOX MaryAnn Quote
cathy Posted March 2, 2004 Posted March 2, 2004 ViVi you truly are blessed to have such a wonderful community, I really thought they only existed in the movies. I for one am glad you and your family have joined our family here.. Quote
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