Best Compliment

As I look back over my path with RA, people's comments often come back to haunt me.  Yes, I know, I shouldn't dwell on the negative, but late at night... Well you know those times when the pit (that is what I call depression) reaches up to grab me and I rremember unintentionally hurtful things.Like someone near and dear told me I was their hero.  And if he had to go through the daily pain I did, he would commit suicide.  How the heck do you respond to that?  Thanks but no thanks.  I am NOT a hero.  I am a woman with a chronic disease that I work daily on dealing with.  I cry, I cuss, and at times I'm just not a very nice person.  Don't put any halos on me, my arthritic neck can't take it!But as I remember the comments, I have to remember the best so far.  Less than a month after I quit my job, I met an friend at the pool.  She happens to be a nurse, which made the compliment much sweeter.  I told her I wasn't working anymore, that I had to take disability, and here I was choking up.  She looked at me and said, I do not know one person has has worked harder to maintain their mobility than you have.  I can understand that it is time for a change.I swear I could have kissed her.  I think I had to do a lot of serious blinking to keep the tears from squirting out.  After all the explainations, all the hours on disability forms, all the physical pain and emotional pain of trying to sort my life out, someone actually UNDERSTOOD!What a blessing.