Today is World Aids day. Have you been tested? I lost a dear friend in college to Aids. This was in the early 90's. The next year the Aids quilt came to my school. I was lucky enough to get to be a part of the unfolding ceremony. I remember being very moved by the quilt. Each piece made to remember a life lost too soon. Each with a story to tell. I remember crying my eyes out for people I had never met and some I had know well. I remember seeing the square for Ryan White, the young boy from Indiana who got Aids from tainted blood given to him in a hospital, I wept openly along with everyone else. I saw a square for Freddie Mercury of Queen, I cried some more. I remember just sitting there on the floor trying to take it all in, thinking this was one of the moments that would shape my life. My friend and I were tested the next day. We had to wait weeks for the results in those days. For some of us the wait was easy, we knew we were not at risk, for others it was a very long wait. For myself and most of the rest of us it was good news, for others the quilt would grow.
Please if you are not sure, get tested. It is easy and the wait is not so long now.
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