Dedicated to S
One life long friend I can turn to in good and bad times. I’m hurting, I’m sharing my pain with you. Music always fills me, Harry must be my healer today. To funny!!
I know, you know, I know? What do you know, I don’t know?
Xx Melinda
Month: October 2016
Fav Bridesmaids & Groomsmen Dance *The Dude Can Dance*
How Many People Can Fit In A Van?
I found a way to celebrate my followers, looking beyond post into their personal life. I look forward to learning knowing more. No follower is safe! No Opt Out!
Bloggers have followers who bring sunshine with every comment, conversation.Van gives me the blessing every time we have a conversation. Not all conversations are funny as a toad. That’s Texan speak if you didn’t understand the reference.
Please give a Huge welcome to Van By The River. http://www.vanbytheriver.wordpress.com
Here are answers to the questions “only Van” could answer while laughing along with us.
“First job was as a soda jerk at a local pharmacy. I dipped ice cream, served soft drinks and infrared sandwiches (pre-Microwave). I was 15 and it was a local teen hangout…so, it was fun.”
“Favorite job was probably the one I retired from. Hotel sales manager, but I started on the front desk.I loved the interaction with all kinds of folks, mostly travelers, mostly happy to be there. Maybe the best part was that I left it all there “at the office”. I never had that before, and it was a treat. My other career choices, especially teaching, required a lot of my personal time.”
“Van by the River came because of my affection for the Matt Foley character, always a favorite. It seemed to fit in many ways. I have always lived near water, mostly rivers, but not in a van. His character was a motivational speaker, which was always a dream job for me. My kids knew of my love for SNL characters, and the cartoon van on my avatar came from a t-shirt they gifted me.”
“This is my first blog, but I have always written, kept journals, recorded thoughts and feelings, mostly for myself. I found WP through a piece written by a friend and was intrigued. The year my youngest sister died (2012), I decided to record some family history and transferred a few of those journal entries to the blog. I only posted a short time, and left it until September of 2014, where I came back to post more regularly. The blog started to get noticed when I used tags and categories for the first time.”
“My favorite recipes are the ones that have a story behind them, and I’ve posted about those a bit here on the blog. Clam chowder from a cancer- stricken friend, pie from a co-worker with a tragic history, peach kuchen from my first home economics class, my mother’s home-made pizza crust from a happier time, etc. I also have a lot of potluck recipes, party foods, etc. from a time when social life was going strong…those have sweet memories.”
“I read a lot of blogs, but I like the ones that are personal, where folks share their life story. I can spot a fake pretty easily, authenticity matters to me. I also like the ones that are creative, original, artistic, and most of all…with a sense of humor. I have to say…the shorter posts are my favorites. If it’s 800-1000 words, I’m not going there, usually.”
Here are a couple touching comments Van has left me.
“I was thinking about you M. when a story was featured recently about a young girl who was blessed during the Pope’s visit this past year. She has shown great improvement, some say miraculously since then. But, it turns out, the attention her case received got her additional medical scrutiny. She was actually suffering from Lyme, which had been mis-diagnosed by earlier doctors. Amazing. Hope you are doing well. 💕 Hugs”
“You are counted as in the van if in you leave a like or comment. I hope you enjoyed, more profiles/introductions are planed.”
Van has given me joy when I didn’t have any. She is 100% positive, if not, you need the wake up call. From my heart, there aren’t enough words to say how I value our friendship.
Lyme has taken a toll on my body, I can hardly walk. I have awesome followers, it’s taken longer to roll out introductions. I may walk slow but Lyme will not hold me down long.
Xx Melinda
I Think Of You Every Second
I’m grieving a life, a life taken to the sky. Why a country song hit me so hard, I don’t know. Does she like country music? The uncontrollable tears may come from God, being there for me, when the pain doesn’t end. The tears maybe the first of many. I did not ask for promises. I shared the challenges of my mental illness, praying you would not feel alone in your pain. Being real but hoping to empower, no-one can make someone change their plan, only they can. I start praying, please God take her in your arms, show her how love feels, please make her journey beyond earth the greatest years of her life.
I will miss you, I’m scared, please answer my email today. My heart is bleeding, all I need is to know you’re alive. God will always have your back and never stops loving you.
This rendition was updated to celebrate 50 years of Country Music Awards (CMA). Beautiful song, it’s impossible to not appreciate the talent and their voices together.
I will always love you. By the One and only Dolly
Melinda
What Is A Weed?
And what is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
He Named The Posts: Let’s Stop Calling It Mental Illness
In 11 years of Blogging, I can’t recall a time going flip out, full rant on anyone. Today changed everything. We are all due our opinion, we live in the great country of America. People have the same right to voice an opposing view. It’s important my friends and followers know what I will fight for and what my true passions are. Mental Health is on top of the list, I advocate, help anyone who ask, manage my own mental health on a daily basis. I returned home late last night from D.C. and pretty tired today, I could have read the post wrong. Here are a few comments by someone who knows nothing about mental illness. Xx M
*So why then are we still calling these very physical and real illnesses “mental illness”?*
*So why when someone has an illness in their brain, do we call it a mental illness?*
My thoughts on post
While I agree on some points, you are way off base speaking on mental illness. No longer saying someone has a mental illness? WOW!! Mental illness is a serious illness the same as cancer, losing a limb or going blind. First Cancer has no cure, you want to just say oh, there sick? Instead of calling someone an amputee, oh they lost their leg, this person sufferers from endless pain battling their brain, the good and the worst.
When someone is in a dark depression and wants to kill themselves, oh, they had a bad day. They don’t have an illness. I usually don’t reply to you because you seem to like getting people worked up. I draw my line at mental illness, I don’t know anyone who says I deserve more treatment than the next illness because I have a mental illness. Are all people with mental illness living the best like possible, hell no, nor are other with or without a flu or long-term illness. Mental illness is a dysfunction of the brain, there are several categories/symptoms that help doctors diagnosis and work to find the right mix of medication. I’m 52, diagnosed at 19 years old, I’ve stayed in a Psychiatric Hospital to prevent me from killing myself, on more than one occasion. My depression can get so bad I can’t function in reality and need ECT to reset my brain. I’ve had 20 ECT Treatments, if you lookup what is involved and the risk, I think you would agree a very ill person would go through ECT. In 2005 the Vagus Nerve Stimulator was implanted in my chest, it looks like a pace maker, leads are attached to my right Vagus Nerve. Clinical Trials were promising, many saw relief very quickly, I was not one of those. I have taken responsibility for my illness, as I would any other illness I have like, Chronic Lyme Diseases.
Yes, I agree Medical company discriminate against people with mental illness and Lyme Disease when writing policies. One way Insurance companies screw patients over is benefiting from other organizations who determine in all their wisdom, this is the treatment and how long the person needs treatment. I’ll give you an example of Chronic Lyme, the CDC does not agree Chronic Lyme exists or the need for long-term treatment is not needed. The CDC says all Lyme cases can be cured in 4-6 weeks of antibiotics, 8 weeks at most. If the CDC takes the position of only short-term treatment is necessary, Medicare/Medicaid will only cover the recommendations of CDC. If Medicare/Medicare and other government agencies do not pay for long-term treatment, the insurance hop on the train, because it saves them money. They only pay what the CDC recommends if coverage at all.
My insurance company refused to pay anything towards treat meant except RX’s after co-pay just like other. I spent 9 months on IV Therapy, tons of meds and supplements, traveling to DC once a month while on IV’s. Each visit which included some IV supplies and meds. The cost per month $6,000 to $10,000 a month. We have spent over $100K to reach life beyond IV’s, the doctor is expecting 12-18 months to get well. Yes, I understand all to well how patients get fucked over. Mental Health is the same, you are covered but at a lesser rate. There are thousands of bloggers on WP with a mental illness, I can tell you for certain, they will not agree the name of our brain illness should go away. You get enough people on a committee who think shallow about what is and isn’t an illness and you’ll have every disease you don’t respect or understand on the take the name of illness way.
Blogs are open for everyone to speak their opinion, you’ve done that and now other bloggers have the right to disagree and let you know about. Maybe next time before throwing a thought out, you should do some research to understand others and their struggles. You of anyone else.
Reading the comments of followers are quite sad. Good day for you, they all agree
Throw Back Thursday *Taking It To The Streets*
I still love to chill with great bands of the past,so many memories. Have a great weekend.
Be careful. Xx M
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