alaskan...what a thought provoking topic...at least for me.

I agree, hearing (or seeing in the case of a cyber forum) someone acknowledging what you have shared, which is sometimes quite difficult, can have a strikingly uplifting effect on anyone. It can be especially important and impactful to those who rarely have hugs in their personal lives, and for whom the phone rarely rings. (As with most weekends, mine has not rung all weekend.)

Weekends are the worst time of the week for me. Despite the fact that I can truly see the 'light at the end of the tunnel' for myself and my depression, weekends are still and may always been the hardest time of the week for me. Just typing these words brings tears to my eyes.

During the weekdays I feel sort of, but no longer greatly, needed by my cyber friends who have been a part of my Parkinson's life for a good ten years now (dxd in 1994.) But on the weekend, not surprisingly, the emails dry up and PD forum participation also slows down significantly.

It becomes a very lonely time for this very lonely 60 yr old, but I am working on this problem here on the home front. Fortunately, this forum continues to move.

So, having said all of this, I agree very much with what alaskan has said.