Lifes a trip Enjoy it

If you suffer with illness and chronic pain, please don't feel that you are all alone! You ARE NOT ALONE. Its just that many "Suffer in Silence"; instead of knowing how to find nice groups thru which other people just like you have the same type of medical condition. Now that I have this abdominal illness I realize how important groups and friends are. Here is a bit of my past life experience with pain.

At age 21, I left the U.S.M.C, barely able to walk after being hit head on by a drunk driver who was going 80 MPH! It truely was thn I left that hospital, barely able to walk, I felt so sad, hurt and bitter! I went from bar to bar drinking. 18 months later, one night I found myself walking down the middle of the street at 2 AM and I asked myself this question! If someone came around the corner and ran me down and kiled me, who would come to my grave? I said, "No one"! Suddenly around the corner came a police car and I got over to the sidewalk and they got out.

They asked me why I was in the middle of the road? All I could think of saying was..."Well officer, I was in this bar and listening to the song, "Walking the line" with Johnney Cash", and thats all I was doing in the street! They both laughed and I pointed to where I lived and they let me go home and sleep it off. But that day in 1975 was a turning point in my life. I had never felt sorry for myself before. I had always tried to be a shoulder to others who suffered, So I chose to go to college, to buy me time to get a grip on the changes in my life.

My point is this my friends! Had I died, or took the easy way out, I would have missed out on all the people I have left my memory upon, and all of them upon my memory. I would have missed all of my lifes experiences, especially of being an unpublished writer for 25 years. I have saved several lives over those 34 years, both from a fire, as well as a man being attacked by three gang members. I regret nothing in my life except for being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the drunk driver.

I have lived a good life and those daily moments I am in paid to me, is a small price for all the accomplishments, and times I cared about someone or when they cared about me. He is a story I wrote in 2005 about the drunk driver accident in 1974:

I Wish You Knew!

You were driving somewhere that april evening, maybe headed home. I was a passenger, a hitch-hiker, in a stranger's car, headed back to my military base. But that night, by chance, or by destiny, somewhere on the highway's of California your car was struck. You were in critical condition, on life support.

About the same time, somewhere else, a drunk driver hit the car I was riding in head-on, going 80, and like you, I was in critical condition. When death came through the door of the intensive care unit, I guess he stopped at your bed first, and took your life from you. But before he did, you gave a gift to me, a gift of life. You carried a organ donor card...and the one wish you could not see come true true, was to save another's life, Mine!

Your name was Mary Elizabeth Baker, and you were 51 years old. I don't know anything more about you, so many years have passed. But I know you were a kind person, just like me, and I too carry a organ donor card, knowing very well, just like you, one day I won't see the face of the person whose life I too might save. Once a year, on the day that you went to heaven, and I stayed behind, a little longer, I visit your grave, to tell you what's been happening since my last visit.

Tears flow freely my long missed friend, as freely as they did that day I brought you flowers. How I wish I had known you, how I wish you could have heard me whisper, "Thank you for letting me live". Each time I visit you, I kiss your headstone, and I read for you the best stories or poems that I had penned, to let you know that

because of you, I am a writer. Not one of fame or fortune, no published anthology of poems, no book of stories for reader's to enjoy.

I merely post here and there in groups, hoping that what I have felt inside and released for all to see, holds a special meaning for someone. It could have been so easy for me to have been the one who died, Mary, but I didn't carry a organ donor card to save you back then. I am sorry. I have corrected that mistake, as I hope everyone will, because each of us will be called home by Jesus one day. Wouldn't it be a miracle, if in your passing, you could give life to another?

Until next year Mary, or until I walk through the gates of heaven to finally hug you and say thank you for giving me life, be happy in knowing that I take nothing for granted. I live life to its fullest, sharing my smile with all I meet, and doing my best to make their day a good one, because of your unselfishness. Fate has a way of altering our lives in a split second, and not always are they for the better. But I have no regrets! I have been a disabled veteran for 31 years and have been a writer for 22 years.

My friends! When our life is in crisis, be it emotional, physical or financial, it is easy to say to ourself that life isn't fair, that life sucks, and "How can we go on"? I have no answer. I can only say this to you. "You ARE NOT ALONE! Many walk a difficult road and it is important not to let the issues you face take away your smile. Look to friends near and on-line who are there to listen and share. Try to find support groups in your community or on line who have your type of condition. Please don't suffer in silence! There is strength and compassion among friends! They may need your friendship as much as you need theirs. Sometimes friends can help you try something you haven't tried before, which could help you! But you will never know if you don't try.

Anyone who wants to E-Mail me, can do so by clicking on my name by the smiley face of any post I make in this group. I will try to help find a support group for you, if only on-line where you can get to know others and see how they are trying to give themselves the best life possible. Plus there are liver side affects to taking Ibuprofen, Alieve, Tylonel, Naproxen, Vicodin and Hydocodin you should be aware of. I will share my knowledge about pain relief with you if you just ask.

Best wishes,

Raymond.

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