From Chuck "OOB"

Good morning OOB,
Man, it's been a busy week for me! I've been working some drywall jobs, been writing my book of fiction while writing another one I was requested to write for a quit smoking web site and then writing some fresh messages to them as well.
The good thing is most of these things are labors of love. But the one that still and always will be the most important to me are the ones I write for you wonderful people here. This is because I have some idea of what you might be going through. I have a little experience with the hepatitis C virus and it's treatments. I understand what a diagnosis of hepatitis C can mean for a person and how strange the world becomes when we're forced to face the dragon.
At times I think the world can look quite different to us as we face our adversary. It's so easy to see it as drab and colorless if we're not careful. I remember as I would approach that shot night how I'd get frustrated because just as I was starting to feel better from the last one, it was time to take the next one.
Did I waver? Of course not! Did I lose my resolve? Never! This is because I like all of you was a warrior. I was ready to do all I could to defeat this monster that chose to attack me. I was ready to fight my way to the end of those treatments and if they somehow didn't work, I like many was ready to try again! Thankfully I never had to.
I think it's the uncertainty when we treat that gets us the most. No guarantees. Really all we have at first is hope, but what a powerful thing that can be to get us through. So long as our hope can remain intact then we can get through pretty much anything. But there are always those times when we start to wonder. When we waver from our belief that we can get through these times.
This is when it's important to have a place such as OOB to come to. A place where like minded people can hold each other up. A place where we can share hope together simply because we understand what's going through each others minds. Because we feel each others hearts. Because we really do care how another is doing.
I've always been proud to be a member of this site and I'm glad that I was lucky enough to meet Lou. He had a vision for this site and that vision still remains because so long as we share each others hearts. So long as we care enough about our fellow man to try to help them then Lou's vision of OOB is still alive. And so long as his vision lives then so does he.
So long as we understand that we never have to fight alone then the vision is alive. So long as we always remember that it's our duty to hold each other up then OOB lives on!
So never take that drab day as a static item. No, instead find your way to a place like this and change that day into a day of sunshine. That's really why we're here. To brighten days and I think somehow we always manage to achieve that.
I look forward to being a part of this web site until the last dragon has been slain! I look forward to that day more then words can say for this is a place that deals with more then just life. It's a place that deals with the soul as well!
Have a wonderful week my friends,
Chuck