Had a Wonderful Night enjoying life, last night

I just wanted to post a more positive thread about a great time that I had last night, doing something so simple and fun and just remembering what it was like to live life without thinking about viral loads, or treatments, or clinical trials, or the economy, or the little girl Caylee Anthony that has been so sad to hear about her untimely passing.  

I went with my sister and her husband to see some really neat Christmas lights all over our county here in FL.  Then, we went to Cocoa Village and it was so neat to see this wonderful little town coming together to make this Christmassy; Florida  time.     They've made a man-made outdoor ice-skating rink, that to my Florida girl background, was so cool to see it and see all the skaters out there.  They had some fake snow brought it with a sled and the kids were out there tossing snow balls, which made me laugh.  They had a big pit-like bon fire going with people roasting marshmallows on sticks and a vendor selling 'smores kits'.  We went up to the fire to enjoy it and a girl handed us some empty sticks and some marshmallows and said, "I have a whole bag of them and if you'd like to have some, go ahead...'  , so instead of paying for the smores, we did our marshmallows and it was so much fun to do because I hadn't done that it SO long.  We walked around the village and looked at the Christmas lights there, and then, along the river where the lights were shining along the boardwalk.  I saw Santa, but no, I didn't go up to him and sit in his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas because somehow, I didn't think that he'd understand SVR!!   We went to two  neighborhoods that had a huge display where the neighbors all coordinated it together to make a winter wonderland with arches, a Santa, etc.  Then, it wrapped up with a home that was decorated up so beautifully with everything you could possibly dream of being there including a bubble machine and there was a sign there, dedicating this display to the man's recently deceased wife.  I thought, how sweet that was that he still put up all of those decorations (hundreds of them), when his wife had just passed away.  I know this is a very long post, but I needed to post something good after whining for so long about my not clearing the virus.  

Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year's and if you believe in another holiday, then, Happy Holiday to you, too.

Susan400

[mikesimon]

Merry Christmas Susan!
I loved your post. It touched me deeply.
Stay well and happy Susan.
Michael

[lapis]

How fun!  Outdoor ice skating in Florida!!  Thanks for sharing, such a great description, took me right there with you.

[jdwithhcv]

Thank you for that post.  Merry Christmas to you, and a healthful new year.

jd

[R Glass]

Thank you for your post. You did such I good job detailing, it was like I was there.
R Glass

[charm27]

Yes the past 15 years the letter "C" and viral load are not good words for me either. We all can relate.
Was a pleasure to read your post and hear you enjoyed yourself.
Life is good when we can enjoy ourselves without a monkey on our back.
Wish you a happy and healthy new year ahead.

Enjoy.
Love
CHARM27

[Andiamo1]

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you as well.
Thank you for the post.
Eric

[NYgirl]

You are such a beautiful woman my friend.  
You just moved me to tears and you know - that doesn't happen very often but I could see you making the marshmallows and it made me so strangely happy, I felt like I could see you having such a great time and laughing and just enjoying life.

I guess we all have to remember to do that once in a while.

Great lesson for me to remember.

Thank you. I wish more than any present I could get that somehow this year you do find SVR. I mean that and you know it. I love you.

Love Deb

[Trinity4]

Thank you for sharing that wonderful experience with us.  It made me feel warm and fuzzy.   When we have the opportunity to step out the the world of HCV it's amazing how the simple pleasures become such a joy.  I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.  
Trinity

[Deb_c430]

Oh Susan! How wonderful!   totally awesome!   I wish I had been there!  Merry Christmas and Happy new year!

[can-do-man]

Sounds like you had a great time, thanks for sharing. And all this in florida where it is WARM!!!!!!!!

Durn its cold here, oh well. Only the best for one of the best gals around.

[kickboxingmom]

Happy Holidays to You and Yours !
Thanks for the Story.
You made a Memory !
Tammy

[Marcia2202]

It is really wonderful and touching that you were able to go out and enjoy yourself and experience the beauty of the holidays. It must be such a relief to you to be able to do fill your heart with joy and light, after all the difficulties you have been through.

God bless, Marcia

[comeagain]

Thx for sharing , I wanna go down some time to florida and play golf now I just got to go since its possible to skate as well I´m born on skates lol !!

I can tell you have the true life inside of you, your very blessed Susan.

A very merry christmas and a blessed new year I wish for you!!

ca

[jdwithhcv]

Are you near Cocoa Beach?  That's such a lovely area.  I'm heading that way Wednesday for Christmas with my sister and to get away from the frozen north!

[portann]

Susan,

You inspired me with your story of seeing the lights, so we went downtown today to see the city's Christmas lights, which we take for granted since the kids grew up. It was so worth it. Thank you.

[Deb_c430]

I love lights!  everytime i see a movie with NY Christmas lights or   in London the store fronts, I feel like a child again, even my little mountain town!    Tis the most beautiful time of the year!   I came back to read this thread again!   wonderful  

[Trish77]

Merry Christmas to you too, Susan!!  That was an absolutely lovely holiday story and I'm so glad that it took you away from all your worries and concerns for awhile and I hope the beauty of that incredible experience you wrote so well about stays with you for a very long time.

Wishing you many more happy moments in the coming year.

Trish

[susan400]

I live about 1/2 hr south of Cocoa Beach!   Cocoa Village is just the other side of the river from Cocoa Beach, that's where I was the other night.  They have is decorated up so nice.  Cocoa Beach in year's past, had a huge fireworks display on the 4th of July over the ocean and hundreds of people would watch the fireworks from the beach, they would shoot them up over a barge.  Unfortunately, unless they find some way to raise the funding somehow, they've been saying that they could have them next July 4th due to the budget and the cost of it.   Anyhow, I did so enjoy it, the other night.  JD, if you PM me, I'll give you my cell phone number and if you're in town for a few days, maybe you can call me.  I know sometimes the holidays are just so busy and you may not feel inclined to take the time out to do that, I understand completely if that's the case.

Blessings everyone, Susan

[TeeVee36]

I really enjoyed reading your post and envisioning all of the light displays.  I haven't roasted a marshmallow since I was in elementary school - I am going to do that real soon.  

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Xmas and an even better New Year!

TV

[evangelin]

Thankyou for that lovely description.  It moved me to some tears as we are coming to grips with treatment failure #3 for Joe.
  I started a job as a teachers aide for a little girl with brittle bones disease and it has helped me be able to think of something else besides the word and letter we won't even mention right now.  Even though it is my husband who has it, I have been a crazily obsessed person on this topic for 5+ years now and it is actually hard for me to care about the little pleasures in life .  This isn't a good state of mind when you still have kids.
We will be at the end of things to try for now because Joe's platelets are too low for trials.  Besides taking HR's supplement list again and keeping out the junk food, I'm going to try to think about other things more this next year.  We need some joy around here and it can't be anything that takes money either.  We live in the country where nothing keeps you from having a bonfire and I can still afford a bag of marshmallows...maybe even a few healthy dark chocolate squares and some graham crackers.  I am imagining a remote control that changes my brain to another channel other than the one it has been stuck on for so long.  Joe is at stage 4 and in case we don't have a long time, I would like to make it a good time. I think Joe is getting tired of my giant crusade to save him.  He needs a break from my constant search for information too.  I think he would rather just have his feet rubbed.:>)
Merry Christmas Susan!
Blessings,
Ev

[susan400]

Thanks to everybody who responded here to my post.  I'm glad that I did decide to share my HAPPY experience for a change.  Once again, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or Happy Holidays everyone.

Susan400