What gives you hope?

[mecch]

Flowers, seasons, moving clouds, skiing (oddly enough), science, love, kindness, the dalai lama, morning coffee, champagne toasts, and feeling better than before.

[GSOgymrat]

Nature gives me hope. Being in the woods, at the beach or looking at the stars reminds me how insignificant any of the problems of mankind are. Time and space are vast and we are tiny little blips in the scheme of things. I find it comforting that no matter how badly we screw up the universe takes care of itself.

[gee080]

hello

My name is Gideon lawal I need help.. am Dieing here am from Nigeria.. but am not into scam am for real.. the drug over here is a killer.. but we trying to live with it.... am looking for a Hiv survival.. can help me and be my good friend in this situation.. bcos am looking for someone to help me cope with the side effect.. i lost my brother to this shit virus early this year.. i dnt want to die and am still 23 and am hoping to ave kid before... pls if there anyone out there willing to help me to keep me alive am going to be happy.. here is my contact(gideon080seyi@yahoo.com)234-80-391-69565.

Hope am going to get someone mail me as my God sent
Regards
Lawal

[Oceanbeach]

Laughter gives me hope.  That and a double J&B rocks w/ a water back    Have the best day
Michael

[mecch]

Hello Lawal,

Members of AIDSMEDS/POZ are waiting to help you. 
They have read your message on this post:

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=23459.0

Try to get the information about what drugs you take. What is the name on bottles of the drugs?

Also try to get the information from your doctors about your blood.

Take this information and bring it to your original message:

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=23459.0

People here care about you and we wish you the best.  You will need to keep your messages to one place so everyone can know where to look to help you.

All the best wishes and hopes to you,

Mecch

[leatherman]

It's not exactly hope, but I do derive the strength to continue onward from the responsibility of caring for my cocker spaniels.

Many years ago my first partner and I owned a pet store and started breeding a line of cockers. About 9 months before he passed away (from AIDS in 94), we had an offer to get one of the grandkids in the line from our first spaniel. Though we already had 5 spaniels in the house, how was I to deny a dying man his last wish of a puppy? I purchased that happiness for my partner's last days with the responsibility of caring for 6 dogs alone after he passed away.

But it's loving and having to care for those dogs that has kept me going through some of my sickest times. Who else was going to feed them, let them out, or throw the toys? It takes so little to make a dog happy, and they give so much back. I would never trade the responsiblity of having (or eventually losing) these dogs, because of the love and laughter that they bring into my life everyday. I lost those first 6 (the first pack) over the years; but I got 4 of the great-grandkids to form the "second pack" (smaller pack is easier to care for by one person). Now, after losing one last Dec just a few months before my second partner passed away (from AIDS and non-Hodgkins Lymphoma), I only have three of them left. Though they may be getting older (11,10 and 10), and one of them is getting blinder, my boyz love me and I love them and that makes us all very happy. 

Speak of the devil LOL One of the boyz is nudging me with a toy right now, so I have to go 

Happiness IS a warm puppy!

[CaliGuy22]

The Beautiful View of mountains I have from my room, my amazing sons an American Bulldog and a Pittbull/Boxer mix, Buddhism, the Dali Lama, the fact that I feel great today.

[mecch]

Wow it is good to read - inspiration.

Leatherman, you have a lot of love to give and i say a prayer the next man who gets it, lives a long healthy life with you, for a change you deserve that.

About the dogs - is there a breed that can live with an entire day in an apartment -

In my case, it would be 1 day a week - but 12 hours with no walk? Another day would be 8 hours alone. Other days 6. 

I had an roommate with a labrador mutt, pretty big dog, rescued as a stray on a highway.  That dog had to stay in the apartment from 7:30 until 6-7 pm every workday. not good.

I loved that dog and he loved me and everytime I see him again its heaven.  He slept at my feet everynight.

[CaliGuy22]

My American Bulldog like that he can be inside all day and be ok. I do have family that can play with him and be with him if I am gone. He also is 6 years old and very slowed down so maybe check out a local SPCA and see if you can find an older mellow breed that you like.

~J

[joemutt]

While I look forward with optimism, I try to find contentment today.
what helps me is meditation (theravada budhist), yoga,
meeting other people with hiv and be there for each other,
hearing birds in the morning overpowering the city noise with their singing,
the gecko sitting on my sink when I get home,
love for my 2 sisters and three brothers,
hold hands with a guy I dated twice and who's brilliant
(and here I have to be careful or I veer not only into hope but also expectation).

[Iggy]

- Reality without sugary additives (the latter often distracts from being able to handle the former)
- Belief in self and others,
- Witnessing kind acts by strangers,
- Trust in my ability to face things, and when that fails, permission to allow myself to learn to face things.

[Moffie65]

Waking up with my man, and sipping a fresh ground cup of coffee while the rising sun bathes your naked body.  This gives me hope every day. 

Now for those of you who don't have a man/woman beside you each morning, I also established this habit before I met him, but he also did the same thing, so it was a perfect match.

Really hope is a funny thing, because it does seem to require expectation, but I refuse to accept expectation into my life because it limits my real life experience.  I think appreciation for the things that give us hope is probably what makes me smile inside and have that warm feeling of being.

[Texan38]

Not what but who. My mom.  We go out to bars, gay bars, even foam parties, we dress up to go to Halloween parties, we go to concerts, vacations or we can just simply sit outside, have a cook out and enjoy the day with a couple of beers or just enjoy the couple of beers!
She inspires me to have hope.

[skeebo1969]

  I think appreciation for the things that give us hope is probably what makes me smile inside and have that warm feeling of being.

     My thoughts exactly...

[Queen Tokelove]

Hmmm, sometimes music gives me hope, other people give me hope but most of all I give myself hope..

[Graywolf]

Right now nothing gives me hope, live in intracctable pain 24x7 legs feet and back feel like theyb are being crushed in a vice, and legs withering to nothing, get passed around from doc to doc, waiting months in between for non answers. I see all the happy smiling peoplle, laughing, running leading normal lives and i turn away, most of the time i feel cursed by an angry vengful god with hiv due to my sin.

NO matter what's wrong doctors jump to "it's hiv" when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail and they have misdiagnosed ot waited to long time after time when a problem could have been fixed but spent months years foot dragging,

I also lost hope due to the amerikan medical system being set up to on;y act when a problem becomes catastrophic, why fix it when you can wait until it's too late, then have a constant flow of patients in misery...guaranteed repeat customers. if you think i am deluded think again, this is the way the system works also when you have a condition like hiv and am older, you are kicked to the curb, given a slapo on the back and a bottle of pills, "sorry deal with it"

I have no friends or living family, for me any hope died years ago, it was beaten out of me years ago

[WillyWump]

Threads like this give me hope