There goes my life....

[The Straight Story]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcqQ-wxq3h4

I couldn't help but write this tonight as I sit here thinking about this thing we call life.

My wife and I have been together over 9 years. We kept hoping to have a child, though we did not think we could given her history (cervical cancer and such). We dreamed of a day when we would have a little boy named Noah. I already had three boys from a previous marriage, and a daughter from another relationship. Did not care if we had a son or a daughter, I just wanted my wife to be able to have a baby and see the joy of it all. She wanted a Noah.

We had a Hannah Rose instead.

The wife held her so tight, breast fed her day and night (not at the Olive Garden though...). Slept with her so many nights. And now she is 6 and in school.

We dreamed our little dreams of the future. Then the wife found out those problems she had had for years wasn't the brain cyst they found, but Parkinson's disease - and she was only 35.

Her future has some hope - and a lot of fear. They are making strides in research, but could be making more if it were not for the RW screwing up stem cell research.

Her dreams of being a mom are challenged each day, and will be more so as the years go on. Lack of sleep, fatigue, having her right side cramping up so bad it is like a charlie horse on one whole side of your body all at once. Being so tired at times she spends months in bed. Being so depressed you just want it all to end - and then being on medicine which helps with some things but makes mental issues a hundred times worse.

She is so sick with worry that she cannot be the mom she always wanted to be. I am sick with worry over the money and getting health care. And in it all, we shield our little girl. She is kicking ass in school - but sometimes asks why mommy spends so much time in bed. We just tell her that mommy has a cold. Last week, she got 50 math problems right - out of 50, and was the first to finish the test and the only one to get em all right.

Each day, I see real people here on DU and elsewhere fighting the good fight. Real people, with real issues. And I keep hearing from the RW - do for yourself. Screw national health care, to hell with mental health care - pull yourself up from your boot straps and git-r-done.

Yeah.

I got a GED. I was the best manager in the US for the data centers for the 2nd largest bank. I started as an engineer, and worked my way up. Where did it get me?

I was a cop, and a damned good one at that. I worked in manufacturing for several companies - and I broke records for production at all the companies I worked for. And what did I get for it?? Laid off or fired right before my benefits started.

No matter how much I have worked for others, I keep getting screwed over by employers. Which screws with my wife and daughter's health care. It screws with my ability to pay bills each month. And I hear you say 'Just work hard and you too can make it' - and yet, I have done that my whole life. And yet I sit here without a job or benefits.

When will you admit that the system is broken - not just for me, but for millions of others?

My story is but one of many. When will you step up to the plate for your fellow citizens?

Maybe all you care about is the unborn, and those who are born are nothing to you?

Go ahead and come crying to me when you are where I am - and I will give you rest.

Because I am not like you. I know it ain't all easy, I know shit happens.

When you reach out your hand, I will be there to take it. Maybe it is time you did the same....


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1883387