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Author Topic: The looks go, the body declines, and the laughs abound  (Read 3295 times)

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Offline ThisSplendiDay

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  • Posts: 7
The looks go, the body declines, and the laughs abound
« on: July 20, 2011, 05:10:11 am »
When they first develpoed a test for HIV, it was to protect the blood supply; but if you had $800 bucks and connections an individual could get it. My best friend paid for us both and we both tested positive. At that point I was 25 years old and had already been a caregiver for several years in San Francisco. When they told me I was poz they also told me I would be dead in 18 months, but I was too ornery to listen.

By the late 80s I had held so very many people as they died and was crushed with the weight of survivor's guilt when I bought a 1 way ticket to Greece, where I knew not a soul and couldn't read the alphabet. I landed with $75 in my pocket. Three months later I helped found the Center for Life in Athens and went on to meet my heroes and have wonderful adventures.

Now I am in post Katrina New Orleans, wearing silly hats and making camp videos to try and sell my book, but most of all, having a blast though desperately poor.

My point is not how wondeful I am, it is that I think we keep living so long as we keep LIVING. Love easily and laugh easily, and celebrate those you love as well as yourself. It is so easy to look in the mirror, those of us no longer young, and feel that we no longer are viable. I looked in the mirror and thought "MY God, I look like a corpse!" then real quickly after that I thought "Well, that just means I have a face to die for!!!!

Michael Sterling
swampchild.com
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Offline wolfter

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  • Posts: 5,470
Re: The looks go, the body declines, and the laughs abound
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2011, 06:28:16 am »
Awesome outlook on life.  I'm grateful so many people today won't have to deal with the survivor's guilt.  Such a horrendous period in my life.  So many great friends died young and will forever be young in my mind and heart.  And now, 20+ years later I don't mind the ravages of age.  It's my personal badge of honor for out lasting this disease which is something that wasn't expected.

Hope you have a great day!  I'm needing another trip to NO, haven't been for a while.
Greg
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Being honest is not wronging others, continuing the dishonesty is.

Offline AlanBama

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  • Posts: 3,670
  • Alabama: the 'other' 3rd World Country!
Re: The looks go, the body declines, and the laughs abound
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2011, 11:17:50 am »
Hi Michael, glad you've joined us!   I think humor is the ONLY way to deal with many of our 'issues', or else we would just crumple up in a pile and go completely insane.... ;)

I could use a trip to N.O., one of my all-time FAVORITE places to go....

Hugs, Alan
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"Remember my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." - The Wizard of Oz
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