My appreciation for your post is definitely immoderate!

You touched upon some fundamental beliefs that I hold true in my heart as well. It is interesting, how our separate journeys can be so similar at times.

I'll share a story with you that you might appreciate. I was watching Oprah on TV one day (yes, I have seen Oprah - daytime TV is part of the curse of being disabled...lol) and she had a guest that I found terribly intriguing.

I am not the sort of person who gets excited about psychics or mediums that are television personalities, most of that stuff is clearly cold-reading after all but there was something about this one guy that has stayed with me all these years (oops, I let on that I was watching Oprah before I got sick...rats!).

I forget the guy's name, but his story is one of having died and come back from the "other side" with a message. He had been struck by lightning (and not for the first time as I recall) and was pronounced dead in the hospital. Of course, it didn't take and he came back with a remarkable story to tell.

His tale begins with the standard out-of-body type experiences with an odd bit of detail including the peeling sticker on the back of the over-head lights in the emergency ward (a nice touch, I thought). While being dead, he says he remembers speaking with a sort of spirit guide or angel or what-have-you, who told him to return and bring a message with him. His message was to let us all know that we are not only loved but admired and looked up to by the spirit-realm. He described this life as a kind of university program where souls come to learn lessons for the benefit of all souls when they return to the "other side". By taking on the challenges of living a life in this world, we invite pain and turmoil and the struggle of life here on earth which we could have easily avoided by staying in the soothing peacefulness of our spiritual realm. For this reason, those who do stay behind, admire us for taking on this difficult duty of learning and growing.

Thinking about living with this pain makes me think about this guy's message, and in some small way I derive some kind of validation for my suffering. As though living with AS in itself is serving others, and this I find gratifying.

I should add that this fellow was selling his book but otherwise seemed to be genuine and selfless. There was something about him that I liked.

Anyway, I thought you might like that story Kat

Talk to you soon

Chris