I finally have a REALLY GOOD REASON...

to watch American Idol!!! AND, to become a fan of the Osmond family.

So, did you see it? Did you see the 2 minute segment that probably generated more buzz for the NMSS and MS in general for the past couple of years?? There was one of the Osmond boys trying out for American Idol tonight. He's Alan Osmond's son - David Osmond. Turns out, and I have not seen either names mentioned in the numerous "Celebrities with MS" articles that are out there... Course, I don't know how much the Osmonds rate as celebrities anymore...

Alan Osmond has MS and he says that his hand tremors was one of the things that he got run out of the business for. His son, David, also has MS and spent some time in a wheelchair a while back.... They didn't phrase it in MS words but I think I translated it to that wheelchair experience being his diagnosing experience...

Isn't that sooooooo cool?? And, David actually had a pretty voice. I so hope he is good and has a great Hollywood week and we get to talk each week about MS. I worry about him making it though. Clay Walker has talked openly about how he does have to restrict his tours because the heat of the concerts gives his body the MS willies. What if David gets a flare because of all the stress and literal heat from the stage???

Geesh, leave it to an MSer to worry about the lighting - screw the voice!! Hey, we could get him to wear different cooling vests each week!!! I hope he wears an orange bracelet for MS like David Cook wore his brother's cancer bracelet all last year. They mentioned it almost every week. What would we do with all that exposure????

First, we get a first lady in the big house who's father's struggles with MS were talked about quite openly during the campaign... Teri Garr always shows back up on Dave when we need a good MSer face showing!!! Now, we could break the 10 million mark barrier - with people who actually hear about MS!!!!! OMG!!!

Anyways, I'm such a mushy I started tearing up when the dad was talking about his son and his struggles and how he's such a fine young man! I wonder if all the MS researchers out there immediately tried to get in touch with them.... after all, it's 2 MEN that share a whole lotta genetic material and each has MS.... research wonderland, even if only for a case study!! I wonder if he's on any DMDs???? If so, I wonder if he'll talk about it...

I spent a wonderful day at work trading emails with my 8 year-old niece... she was with her mom at work and apparently was sending me and her dad emails constantly. She barely had the patience to wait for me to respond (which I did to all but 3 emails she sent!) and I'd get an "Email me! Love you" or "Hello?!?!?!?!! Love you". And then she'd get my email response to her question and ask another.... I had to laugh when I got the email "can I still email you? dad says I have to stop emailing him so he can get some work done" and yes, it was all spelled right and gramatically correct. Course, that made me have to respond in kind!!

At one point I did have to do something for a co-worker in the field hunting down a really bad bastard and so I sent my neice an email telling her I needed 30 minutes where I could not email but she could still email me if she wanted. She said ok and actually only sent about 3 emails to me in that time... and right at 29 minutes sent another email asking if I could email her again! I had to laugh and emailed her right back. She'd attach a picture and ask if it was a picture of me working... One pic showed a girl typing on a computer and another showed a woman making copies.. I was so amazed at this wonderfully smart little girl... SIGH - love her so much!!

Anyways, sorry for following the shiny thing but I thought about her tonight watching American Idol. I know she's watching it with her brothers and family. My brother and sister in law have told her about my MS but who knows if they fully understand. They know I've been sick and they actually stayed with us the weekend when I had my last IV steroid treatment. They asked a lot of pretty neat questions about it and wanted to watch me change my IV dressing and when the nurse changed my IV she actually watched.... I expect acceptance into med school in the future!!

But, I wonder if my neice or nephews will have any questions for me about MS the next time they see me? Or, will it have already passed their minds with all that they get bombarded with daily. I'm definately going to ask my sis in law if they asked any questions while watching it....

I'm still thinking about an American Idol winner - and MSer... what a wonderfully beautiful struggle to have, huh???