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Dear, dear, Audrey When I first signed onto PIEN and SPARKLE, I, like a great percentage of the membership needed to belong somewhere. I needed to share the me of me that I had shared with no one for many years. Too many responsibilities. Not enough time. Not enough trust. For the first time in my life I put the me of me in writing. I not only wrote about myself, I wrote about my illness and what I called the "stages" of my illness. I wrote what my family didn't know, what my coworkers were never told those many years we looked after one another. I had learned my lessons well over the years. Nose to the grindstone. Watch whom you trust! Yet I didn't feel that way about SPARKLE and PIEN. I could belong here and not feel alone in my illness. When I felt a wall of ice before me at PIEN, I figured I was the new smart-aleck kid on the block who was full of ideas that might uproot and old oak. SPARKLE accepted me-strangeness and all! As for PIEN, I could see it would take time. Then when I wrote what became the cover letter for the HOW DID WE GET HERE ANYWAY SURVEY and there was so little response, I KNEW it had to be me! Of course it wasn't. It was somewhat my insecurity, PDers' reluctance and PIEN's period(excuse the play on words)of PMS! Make no mistake. I was ready to run. I had had it! Why, there was enough in my basket of life to handle without additional headaches! It was some very special stranger-cyber-friends who convinced me to stay. They are the ones, some of whom have lived with those under the PD umbrella, whose perseverance so strongly contributed to the heart of PIEN. Newbies are greeted. Intelligent discussions are held. Tears are shed. Contributors' points of view are accepted and/or debated. No one appears to be afraid to ask for advice. There is not only warmth, caring and love on PIEN, there is a tremendous amount of professionalism as well. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, having said what I've said, I'd like to dedicate this page to: Audrey, Michel, Jo Ann, Bonnie, Camilla, Kathrynne, Greg, David, Juanita, the Barbs, Mario, Maryse and everyone who somewhere along the line gave me kind word and encouragement; to Jorge and Bob who have so beautifully dedicated their professionalism; to Barbara P. who trusted me, and to my special angels Hans and John who have kept me out of more than one scrape. If I contribute anything to PIEN, it is because of all of you, and I do it with love, friendship and caring. Thank you all! E of the headdress Dear special Edith, It is impossible to ignore the aura of goodness that you show whenever you post. I feel privileged to know you even if this is the only way that we meet. I am sure that many feel very much the same way as I do too. For all of those who wait for the cure, or some diagnosis of what they have, people like you make the waiting so much easier. For those as I am, who have no direct connection with someone with PD, you give us a way to understand what it is to be closer to our special far away pwps. Thank you for being the person that you are my friend. Love, Audrey -----Original Message----- From: edith love [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 5:48 PM To: SPARKLE - Smiling PARKies Live Easier - Subject: [sparkle] The PD Umbrella- From Where I Stand The paths to PD are many, and if one looks under the PD umbrella one can find: PD, PD+ and the undiagnosed who have some of, maybe all of, the PD symptoms but for one medical certainty(if there is such a thing) or another do not belong on the direct PD path. To make our situations even more complicated, one can observe that our illnesses are many and varied. When compared we don't even resemble one another! We are sometimes the ones who often feel even more isolated and forgotten than those outside the umbrella. We feel isolated because we know there are others like us somewhere, but no data base has been developed to connect us. Like our PD/PD+ brothers and sisters, we, too, wait for a cure. However, we know up front "this cure" might not even apply to us. We feel forgotten because we are the ones who are so often not included in PD questionnaires and/or surveys and/or reports and studies(that's why we included everyone in the HOW SURVEY). We don't qualify though we have much to contribute. Were it not for PIEN'S and SPARKLE's camaraderie we'd feel more than forgotten. We'd feel lost. We're like the short country road that's not on the map. Hardly anyone knows we're here! E of the headdress Official site for Sparklelist http://geocities.com/sparklelist/ Official site for Sparklelist http://geocities.com/sparklelist/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn