Posted by Barbara D. (205.188.192.151) on August 04, 1999 at 03:18:46:
When I got back from NY and Dave's Garage, I had a LOT of e-mail. Took me several days to get through it. One was from a man in Texarkana (about 2 hours from where I live.). He said he'd just found the board and went to WHERE WE LIVE to see if there were any clusterheads around Texarkana.
Well, he couldn't find anyone in Texarkana but noticed my address in Gladewater. He was dating a lady in Gladewater. He came down last Saturday and didn't call me.... you know how Mom's are - I chewed him a new one!
This morning I had an e-mail saying he was coming down to see Elaine (his girl) tonight and would I like to have dinner with them. Of course, you know me, I had to think about that for about a split second.
Mike, Elaine and I went to dinner tonight and it was really great. In fact, they almost had to ask us to leave so they could close. He's a CPA and is helping set up the OUCH papers. Believe it or not he works for a non-profit corp that he helped set up. Brought me some reading material. Is this great or what.
My point - don't be AFRAID to meet other clusterheads. It's a wonderful experience. After the party at Dave's, I'm ready to meet all of you. This is NOT like meeting a stranger - there are no awkward moments. In fact Mike said later that he knew when I opened the door he was gonna get a hug - he did too and so did Elaine.
Over dinner, I did notice that Mike was having shadows and was in pain. That part hurts. But we laughed about the "stupid" things we do to get our minds off the pain. He told about bashing his foot on an exercise machine and bleeding all over the place before he noticed his foot was hurt. I was laughing really hard by this time and told him that cutting your toenails durning a Cluster was not a very smart idea either. Your toe "hurts" while it's growing back.
He did say something that got to me. "You'll never know how elated I was when I found this site." Yes, I know exactly how he felt as do all of you here. It's been our haven of understanding. Just the knowledge that we're NOT alone anymore.... that others understand... well, you know what I mean.
The experience of the gang in NY and tonight meeting Mike has given me a whole new lease on these things. It's hard to explain, but I FEEL better than I have in a long time. The headaches don't seem quite as bad as they did (don't get me wrong, they still hurt like hell).
I'm not going to get mushy,but just wanted ya'll to know how AWESOME it is to meet another Chead. When Elaine decided to make her trip to Dave's, she started something.
Hugs BD