Belated Happy Birthday to renee (September 13)!

[agate]

renee, if you're still reading here, I'm so sorry to be late in wishing you a very happy birthday! I hope you were able to celebrate it in style!
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BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO RENEE! YOU'VE STAYED WITH US HERE OVER THE YEARS. THANK YOU!

[Ikoiko]

Best wishes to Renee.

[Virginia]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENEE

[flatcap]

[agate]

I don't know if renee is able to see this board. I'll try to let her know about her birthday greetings via a Facebook message.

[agate]

I sent a PM to renee via Facebook, and she replied! She sends a shout-out to everyone here. Maybe she'll agree to have the rest of her message copied over here. In the meantime, I sent her a link to this thread so she can see the birthday greetings.

[agate]

Nothing pretty about MS, and that's particularly true if you end up in such a place. Why aren't there special arrangements for people with chronic neurological disorders, places where people could get genuinely caring attention?

A place where you wouldn't have a roommate unless you wanted one, and where you could eat whatever food you wanted when you wanted, where the staff people would be dependable and kind. I don't see why people get warehoused just because they need extra care. That should be the very time when they won't get warehoused, seems to me.

And one of the cruellest things about life in a "facility" is how little of your own stuff you can have with you. What little you're allowed (and have any space for) often gets stolen or just disappears somehow. My things matter to me. I'd feel very lost without them, and I'm pretty sure most people feel that way.

[agate]

renee has had second thoughts about being willing to share her recent message here in such a public space. I'm sure her decision had nothing to do with any of the people here. Virginia's reply was deleted by the moderator too because it concerned renee's remarks.

renee has had difficulties logging in here but is working on that.

[flatcap]

Agate, there aren't "special arrangements for people with chronic neurological disorders, places where people could get genuinely caring attention," because our healthcare system is insufficiently socialized. But that's politics, so except to say I hope I never wind up in a "home," I will leave it at that.

As for stuff, I have downsized to the point where I could almost fit everything I own in my small car except the few pieces of furniture I still have. I have only a handful of mementos left, and although they are mere objects, they are becoming more important to me as the years pass. They keep me connected to my past, good parts and bad. Everything else I own can be replaced.

[agate]

Yes, the little relics from days gone by--photos, letters, things produced by friends and relatives such as books or artwork or just some little item. For instance, I have my mother's billfold with the cards she was keeping in it at the time she died. Not much of hers came my way when she died because I couldn't travel to be there for her funeral but I was sent this billfold, as well as her box of photos. That's also something I wouldn't part with.