HostAsha

lydia: we missed you in our chatroom & in our blogworld, I am amazed by your strength to accept this new changes & make best lemonade out of it. has this all increased after you retired from your job? Asha

Fred: beautifully said I feel God gives us courage & strength to go on when we feel like giving up. I think with God's help everything is possible if we keep on trying. Asha

we missed you Sue, missed your encouraging comments in our blog world, though I m glad you had relaxing time with your daughter & grandchildren. Asha

hi dolly: welcome to wonderful world of blogging. I am so happy for you that your stroke erased negative feelings about you, I have experienced similar thing though I went through severe depression after stroke & then with the help of blogging, spiritual books & this site I found joy again. today I feel thankful to stroke it made me the person I love. Asha

Debbie: I am so sorry to hear about your friend's daughter surviving the stroke, but since I have gone through same ordeal, i can tell you with 100% gurantee that having great support of family & friends she will bounce back, she has to, her reasons are right infront of her. yes first few years will be hard, but she will bounce back, tell her we are all praying for her & cheering for her from sideline for her to bounce back in game of life. Asha

Fred: once you are in lobby, click on roam & then select newbie room once you see people in it, click join. I think once you start coming regularly, it will become very easy. we also have chats in the afternoon from 3-4 EST & 8-9 EST in survivor room from M-F Asha

Debbie: I am so happy Bruce is doing more for himself which helps the family. more he will do it, easier it will get, this is the line I repeat to my concerned caregiver who always wanted me to be safe & not do anything around the house. My argument was until I try it, how would I know it & I know more I try doing things easier it gets & it becomes second nature. Asha

hi hippitty: welcome to wonderful therupetic world of vlogging. having great support sysem of friends & family is big plus in our post stroke recovery journey to get to that happy place sooner. wish you belated happy birthday I bet with that great attitude of yours you are going to create lot of good memories with your family. Asha

Fred: welcome back we missed you around here. you got big family I bet that means ton of nieces & nephews. my hubby is youngest of 7 living children& when we got married there was no room on stage for group photo, but going back to India & meeting them is always so much fun, every time when we go after couple of years there are few new members have entered in the family dynamics. Usually hubby depends on me for remembering every one's name lol. hope to see you soon. Asha

after my stroke I have seen darkness very closely, so I watch very closely what makes me happy & I have realised by doing few things like having routine & doing something new every day in my life it brings in lasting happiness. over the years I have learned happiness is a choice so on PMS days I work hard to choose wisely lol. Anyway for me having routine in life brings in contentment & if I am learning & trying something new also brings in lot of excitement in my life. Recently I have been learning excel to take care of our home finances. & being Programmer, I would always pull my hair complaining to hubby, it would have been so easy if excel did this simple logical operation, so anyway after getting frustrated over it. I finally googled it & found solution vola excel already has that feature which I can use it & make my spreadsheel give me information at the tip of my fingertip, man it made me so happy & I was beaming for few days with my new discovery, so it is official once a nerd always a nerd lol, though I was reading article in the magazine which talks about how to create lasting happiness in life & one of the suggestion was be creative & learn something new. I know when I was taking classes in nearby community college to learn new subjects it used to keep me very happy. hubby used to call those courses my happy pill without actual medication. though over the years I have weaned myself off all the happy pills & learnt to use those knowledge in my daily life which brings joy & contentment in my life. okay now will get off my bragbox. hope you all implement this simple rules in your life to find that lasting happiness too. Asha

Katrina: even though it is hard to do job one handed right now, but I feel with right attitude all jobs are possible. you will find a way to compensate for your left hand. I am so proud of you you are doing so much work even with disability, you are putting those lazy able people to shame. Asha

Dave: I love the way you are thinking about your current normal, you are on right track. things change every day & it improves every day. keep on working towards your small goals , achieve them & then move to next goal. more you do for yourself, better your life will be. Asha

Debbie: i am so happy to see that you both are settling into your new normal routine. we got our first dusting of snow yesterday night, but its not too much just few inches. I love the first snow when all trees r covered with snow & backyard lights up, I wish we would have gotton bit more, but oh well this year winter has been very mild. give Bruce more stuff to do, it will increase his self confidence & it will be one less thing for you. Asha

Debbie: Belated happy Birthday, after 40 & stroke age & weight are just 2 numbers I don't worry about. I love the idea of celebrating all the birthday with friends sounds so special. I am so happy & envious of you still being friends with your grammer school. wow. I lost touch with every one as I moved on at different stages of my life. Asha

Fred: I am so sorry to hear passing of your brother, but I am sure he is at better place today & will meet you all again one day. bet you must have lot of good memories of your brother in your heart. Asha

Sue: thanks for updating us about Ray even though we have never met before I feel like I know Ray through your blogs. I am not into planning for my life, & I believe in flowing with flow of life. I have learned if you do your right things with right reasons behind, things will turn out to be in your favor even though you don't realise today but you will see it in future. do your duties & leave rest on god to take care of it. I know it's hard, but give it a shot & you will see life will become less stressful. Asha

Fred: happy Anniversary fred, we both are very close in celebrating our 8 year anniversary. I will be celebrating on Feb 8 2004 my 8th anniversary. Without faith & my hubby, this journey would have been impossible. have a great time in church tomorrow. Asha

Katrina: you are always in my prayers, I am so happy & proud of you, you are achieving & doing so much more than an able body student will do. adversity in your life has made you stronger & better person. hugs, Asha

This year has brought in some new improvements in life & has increased my confidence in myself. Here at chandra residence I have my routine set but since our chatrooms were down it opened up afternoon 1 hour for me & I started using that time to make phone calls to make doctors appointment & solvebilling issues . I used to have huge trouble doing these things with just one hand & I would procastinate & it would become hubby's responsibility along with all his other responsibility. So anyways I found simple solution to my problem & asked hubby to create small office for me so that I can use hands free phone & can take care of business at hand. It's been working so well. I feel less dependent on hubby since I can take care of appointments & billing issues. I am so happy & proud of this new improvement had to share with you guys. I know its small thing for others, but it's huge milestone for me. I feel so much less dependent on others. As they say when you step outside of your comfort zone you grow, & I feel same way about my capability now with this simple change in our life. Asha

Fred: such a lovely blog, I feel when you view every incidents of life good or bad with gratitude, everything is workable. My eight year anniversary is coming up soon too. I too view stroke as just bump in my life's journey to make me enjoy & appreciate my family while I still can. Asha

Julie: thanks for your update, its nice to hear from members & know they all are doing good in their respective life. Asha

Ruth: happy New year to you & thanks for your life's update, decisions decisions, life sounds like full of decisions & we wonder all the time whether it is good or bad decision. Asha

Sue: thanks for update & I am glad Ray is adjusting to his new surrounding well if he would not & you can't take care of him at home, then it would have been more painful for you. Change is hard to adjust to, but keeping faith that " everything is happening at this very moment is for my benefit only will allow you to accept your now instead of fighting it". I agree with others about clearing out the old things to make a room for new is good thing. according to my hubby clutter in the house brings in negative energy. I am glad Trev & family is moving out, I think in the long run its better for every one. I know you are feeling lonely right now, but babysitting sounds like great idea. I know my mom does it in her basement & that keeps every one happy. She believes in keeping busy keeps depression at bay. So I feel even though as a family we all have to adjust to keep her business running is good trade off. Asha

Dean: that sounds like fun outing. I am happy for you. I guess with the score like that you can soon compete with nondisabled people & beat them too. Asha

Debbie: loved to see your holiday update, with site & chatroom still not working for me I was experiencing blog withdrawl symptoms. I am so happy for Bruce's stroke recovery. I can tell you for sure without having loving, nonjudgemental support survivors don't make the strides bruce is making it right now. as a survivor I feel thankful that there r loving caregivers like you & my hubby exist on this earth. I am planning to blog my new adventure which I have accomplished this year soon too. hugs, Asha