It's like a party everyday!

So I think I may have taken the 'put a positive spin on things' thing a little too far. I'm one of those look on the sunny side of life, make lemon-aid, play the Pollyanna glad game people. I like to stay positive and it makes me sad to see people spend too much time languishing in their misfortune. There is a lot of great stuff about being alive, and yes there is bad stuff too, but that's part of the package. Besides, if life were always perfect, would we really appreciate it? Probably not. We might at first, and then we would slowly let that slip away until we took it all for granted. I'm not saying don't acknowledge the dark parts of life: quite the opposite. We should fully look them in the face and name them for exactly what they are. But if we don't move on, then they win. And we lose.

Now I'll hop back down off my shaky wooden soap box and get back to the original topic. It has recently come to my attention that several members of my family and a handful of friends think MS must be like going to Disneyland every day. Yes, this multitude of smarty-pants people in my life are now saying they want to have MS too, based on my glowing reports of life from the myelin side. Even going to Disneyland would be better with MS! The reasoning behind this sudden desire to be just like me has nothing to do with my stunning good looks or my witty and brilliant personality (shocking, I know!). No, it's because I keep telling them about all the positive things and glossing over the negatives.

I may have mentioned that the MS society throws parties and events, and I may have said something about getting financial assistance for family vacations or exercise classes through their wellness grants. I probably brought up all the free pens, notebooks, and tote bags that the various drug companies give out. And based on my love of cheese and cookies, I am positive that I told more than one person about how good the refreshments were at the recent MS 101 event I attended. Of course, when I found out that people with wheelchairs get to cut to the front of the line at Disneyland, I proclaimed the fact to everyone in the room! Who wouldn't?!!

So now that I have spilled the beans about some of the super-nifty-cool things that go along with having MS, I am paying the price. I keep getting pestered with 'how can I get MS?' and 'I wish I had MS!' and 'What is the wing speed velocity of an African swallow?.' It's enough to drive one into a flair-up!

So now that all of you know how many great perks there are to having MS, I beg you to stop pestering me with questions to which I will only make up the answers, and to go do something useful instead. Like sending me cheese and cookies.