Just a few nights ago, I stopped in at my old stompin’ grounds-
the PWP dumpster gang chatroom for some news and for some
much needed relaxation. The dumpster gang hideout has
always been my refuge from the trials of everyday life with
PD. There I can usually find a friendly face & grin from folks
who are dealing with the same stuff that I’m going thru. It
makes everything more bearable just to know that we are not
alone on this train track that we’ve been switched to! What I
found was a bunch of newbies (for those of you unfamiliar with
computer-ez-a newbie is a person who is either new to
computer skills or, in our case, new to the diagnosis of
Parkinson’s Disease), all of them wailing and whining about the
unfairness of the situation and how much they either hated the
circumstances that forced them to change their lives or were
in denial ...that kind of shell-shock that hits you when you say “I
haven’t done anything bad enough to deserve this!” And they
would be right! No one deserves this disease nor is it a
punishment for past sins. It’s just life.
But when I began talking about what an exiting time that it is to
have PD and how rewarding my life is, I was met with derision
and an abject refusal to look on the bright side. I was asked
who the hell I thought I was and what were my credentials to
join this not-so-exclusive club------and I realized just how
blessed & lucky I was to have made the online friends that I
have made. To have already experienced the pain and the
denial; to have already had the strength to work thru all of the
negative and made my somewhat uneasy peace with this
Parkinson’s disease. To use Sidney Dorros’ favorite phrase:
“To accommodate but never surrender!!”
There, of course, is no easy way to get thru this process of
discovering life after your diagnosis and it would be impossible
without the love and support that I have gotten from a thousand
different people-all of you here have made an enormous impact
on my life and I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart.
I cannot begin to think of life lived without the special people
who are my guiding lights and my pillars of strength-without the
Parkinson Alliance and PLWP and the Dumpster Gang-all of the
many friends who enable me to get out of day and to face each
day with renewed hope and energy; both online and off.
My special thanks to Peggy Willocks of Tennessee for
nominating me for this award (I love you pretty peg!!) and to all
of those who sent in letters supporting that nomination and
also to my partner & my best friend on the internet Dennis
Greene (of Perth, Australia)-I couldn’t have done this without
his encouragement and his brilliance lighting the way.
I would next like to acknowledge the unstoppable & the never
ending source of my strength and love ----my dear family. For it
is only through the generosity of spirit and the kindness of
heart of my husband, Stan, my darling children, Ali & Mitch, my
sainted mother, Norma Blessington, and my sisters and
brothers and their families that I am able to devote so much of
my time & energies to what has become my passion and my
ministry.
And I humbly thank God & also my patron saint-Joan of Arc
For showing me the way to best use the gifts that God has so
graciously given me to serve Him and His people.
Thank you, Donna Dorros, for this award. Please know how
much this means to me and please know that the courageous
spirit of your husband, Sidney Dorros will live on through my
actions and my attitude all the rest of my life.
Now, I can’t wait to have the time to get back to the chatroom
with my message of hope and redemption!
--
Joan E. Blessington Snyder 49/11
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http://www.geocities.com/joanbsnyder/
"Hang tough............no way through it but to do it."
Chris-in-the-Morning (Northern Exposure)
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