Posted by dove on April 8, 2002, at 9:47:10
In reply to Re: To old-time PB posters » judy1, posted by Shar on April 1, 2002, at 20:31:43
I feel like I've been here forever, although Big Bertha and St. James seem to come to mind as two old-timers even older than me. The board has gone through so many changes, so many cycles, as has each individual that helped create the board and weave its personality. So, yes, it is a much different bird than it was just two years ago.
The number of people in need has increased, and the knowledge and wisdom required to be of assistance to the needy is much more complex and wide.
With each new med arrives a new chemical, biological, neurological, emotional, and physical territory to explore, explain, and ponder.
With each new member, one finds a new and unique conglomeration of struggles, victories, life-history, life-story, opinions, biases, eccentricities, personalities, habits, moods, commonalities, and distinctions. That's a whole lot to deal with on a one-to-one basis, much less on an active large group-feedback situation.
For me, P-Babble's split into P-Babble & Social Babble shook-up my method of receiving support, giving support; for searching for medical answers and the holistic answers which often accompany them but didn't/don't fall under the more restrictive med-only P-Babble Board.
That said, I am adjusting and am finding the support I need. However, I don't think I am able to give out the same kind of support I was able to before. Whether this inability is due to my own time restraints, all the new faces, or all the new meds and their combinations, it has decreased.
I still find comfort reading all the posts, *a lot* of comfort; especially when I see those old-timer's tag-lines up on the boards! And wow, don't I feel great when Phil is doing better, and Scott has some new theories, and Greg let's out a grinning holler :o) and then there's Noa - always so kind and circumspect in her replies, and when JohnL had a real break-through in his treatment, and when I had to apologize to DJ for being a total self-centered prat, and St. James began to spend more time feeling good and less time on the board - same story with Adam. And I haven't seen Janice in forever, and she was a real boon to me because we had so many symptoms in common :o)
We lose people due to good health, and that's hard on some of us, but true love and friendship rejoices anyway. In the meantime, we gather some more broken-spirits, angry-spirits, frustrated, hopeless, demoralized spirits; and it begins again.
We just gotta' keep truckin', and play like a deadhead who ain't aware of Jerry's demise and still believes in his spirit, who still believes in the spirit of the *whole* and the *singular*.
dove
poster:dove
thread:21221
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020403/msgs/21682.html