More then my MS friend

I was asked once about why I was/was not including some peoples names in my posts. There are a few reasons why I leave many names out.

1. There are people reading these posts who do not know who any of the "players" are, therefore leaving names out and just putting in a descriptor "my cousin", etc. is a lot easier and sometimes those reading do not care about personal names

2. As I have said before, this is my blog or "my journal" per say, and this

is how I chose to write about things. The end.

That is a long intoduction to my post. This is one of the handful of times that I have actually given a little thought to before I sat down to write. Mostly because it is a helpful for me to think through some things particularly when it comes to MS while I am writing and perhaps get a different view from the one that is in my head. And we all know that the view in my head is a little screwy - yes, that is a little "MS humor" there. Come on, we can all laugh!

I talk about adding peoples names to my posts because today was my date with my "MS friend". I believe that this woman will be a wonderful inspiration to me as a fellow MS'er as well as an inspiration as a friend and woman. Also, after meeting her in person and having time to chat a bit, I felt that referring to her as my MS friend, all be it true, will not be acurate. As she will, hopefully, be more then that. Therefore, I believe that I will refer to her as Jennifer - coincidentially, that is her name!

The girls and I got up and spent most of the morning reading, then packed up and drove to Jennifers house. Meeting someone who is, for all general purposes, has so very much in common with you without knowing anything about you is a strange position to be in. But, Jennifer and her beautiful little girl welcomed us into their home.

The girls and I had a great time. For the most part, everyone was on their best behavior. When it was time to go, Emma fell apart.

Jennifer has a very easy going spirit about her, down to earth and open. We talked about motherhood, our families, the holidays and of course, MS. Although thankfully, we found many other things to occupy our time.

There are some things that Jennifer said about MS that I forgot that I knew, some things that I did not know and other things that helped me to change my mind back and forth. We did agree that so many doctors have so many varying different thoughts on treatment and approach.

Jennifer talked about her short time on Copaxone and how she didn't like some of the side effects. She has never been on Rebif, although she is currently on Avonex - Rebif is just a stronger form of Avonex, both are interfeurons - and is doing very well.

She looks beautiful, has a beautiful daughter (she actually has two but the other was at school), a wonderful home and a nice life. Things that are so great to see for anyone in your life, but even better for someone that was in my shoes 4 years ago.

The girls and I packed up. As I pulled out of the driveway the thought crossed my mind that she and I probably would not have crossed paths in life had our lives been going down the road of least resistance. We, as well as our spouses, know that life is not made up of one grassy filled open field. There are stops along the way that perhaps make you see how bright and beautiful things really are because you find that you are so lucky to still be on the road.

So on a side note, as I was checking in with Matt Lauer this morning. I was rudely awakened out of my daze when Ann Coulter came on to duke it out with Matt. I really do not care which side you are on and this is certainly not a call for people to get crabby over politics. But, holy hell, that woman is the worst! I swore to myself if she is ever, ever on the Today show or anything again I will not watch one more minute of her. The onesided views and hatred out of that woman is one reason why we cannot get more done in politics. . . I cannot even write any more about her. Yuck.

Anyway, another school day tomorrow.