{"id":8,"date":"2012-01-16T02:50:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T02:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbiepetrina.authorsxpress.com\/?p=8"},"modified":"2012-01-16T02:50:05","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T02:50:05","slug":"know-thy-neighbors-my-eleventh-commandment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/?p=8","title":{"rendered":"MS Support: Know thy Neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“My Eleventh Commandment”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have read my book Managing MS: Straight Talk…<\/a><\/em>, you know about my own ten commandments I follow to manage my MS. I\u2019m adding another one. As I was walking my dog around the neighborhood today, I reflected on how important my neighbors are to me. When I moved from Pittsburgh to Arizona in 2001, I lived alone for several years since my husband couldn\u2019t join me until he retired. Being a planner and organizer, the first thing I did after settling in was become a co-director of our volunteer neighborhood block-watch program. I hosted the committee meetings and arranged quarterly weekend social events. The result? I immediately met and got to know everyone living around me. I made good friends, I found professionals (a mechanic, an a\/c and heating technician, a computer guru, a lawyer\u2026) and I felt safe. My dog and I have walked and patrolled the neighborhood daily for all these years, and if people don\u2019t see me for a few days, they\u2019re wondering why.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a new neighbor moves in, I want to meet them. Recently, a new neighbor was putting the finishing touches on a new paint job for his new house. I introduced myself and told him how much I liked the color. It was instant rapport!<\/span><\/p>\n

I love my neighbors, and can count on them if I\/we need something, and vice versa. One terribly hot summer morning, my air conditioner stopped working. My a\/c technician neighbor came to fix it within the hour I called. Another time when my husband was back East, I accidently pulled my Christmas tree over with my power chair at ten o\u2019clock in the evening. I was surrounded by broken bulbs and lights! My girlfriend across the street came over immediately and picked it all up for me. If I\u2019m home alone and I need assistance, I have a phone around me at all times so that I can call someone for help. They can get into my house by using the security-code keypad on my garage door. Many of our neighbors now are not only friends; they are like family to us and to each other. They are invaluable to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

www.DebbieMS.com<\/a>
\nAuthor, MS Counselor, Living with MS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“My Eleventh Commandment” If you have read my book Managing MS: Straight Talk…, you know about my own ten commandments I follow to manage my MS. I\u2019m adding another one. As I was walking my dog around the neighborhood today, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[164,169,193,248,253,264,267,268,283,292,293,295,300,332,352,403,413],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-support","tag-living-with-ms","tag-managing-ms","tag-ms-and-families","tag-ms-guidebook","tag-ms-information","tag-ms-patient","tag-ms-peer","tag-ms-peer-to-peer","tag-ms-self-help","tag-ms-support","tag-ms-survivor","tag-ms-symptoms","tag-ms-victim","tag-national-ms-society","tag-persons-with-ms","tag-understanding-ms","tag-what-is-ms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbiepetrina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}