katt said:

see now your gonna make me cry. i wonder just how old do my kids have to be before i start talking to them about sex. my oldest is 11 i know he should be ready...

brownsugar said:

You should talk to them as soon as you can....not just so much because its info they definitely need to have, but also because they get away from you so fast.. ...my two are 15 and 14....and as cliche' as it may sound, it literally feels like I woke up one day and they were that old.....

brownsugar said:

The sooner the better I talked to my niece when she was 11, (she's 17 now) and I was surprised at how much she already knew at that age, with the internet and TV shows at that time and especially today you have to arm them with as much information as you can.

brownsugar said:

They are never too young to start teaching them. I started teaching them from the time they could read properly with children cartoon anatomy books the books just showed the difference between male and female anatomy. When they got to the age of 10 onwards I introduced heavier books that showed how there bodies will change the books have pictures of reproductive organs and how baby’s are made etc. the books have help open discussion and my children are not embarrassed about talking about there body’s and sex now. I started teaching them early as it was taboo in my family I got taught nothing I never wanted them embarrassed about there body’s the way I was when I was a kid.

http://www.stopglobalaids.org/

I wish governments would stop spend so much money on trying to kill each other off, and cure this and other diseases.
[Edited 12/1/06 19:54pm]

Thank you for sharing

Incredible read.

I will remember this thread the rest of my life.

So many emotions from melancholy to laughter.

But mostly contemplation.


Much fortune to you Cborgman

(hey ... you should take super green foods too Like chorella (green algae) and spirulina (blue green algae) ) But I'm sure you get alternative med advice like that all the time.

thank you...


my heart is full



thank you

actionthisday said:

Co-sign....

Thank you for sharing such personal facts/feelings, it really was a very touching and interesting read .

Retina, that was a great, insightful interview. Thanks for making it happen for all of us to read and understand.

Chris, you already know how I feel about you. You are a very special man and you have more courage and heart than probably half the people I know. You rock.

Almost 900 views and 70 posts in very little time... Thank you everybody for showing such great interest in this very important issue!

I'm sure Chris' answers have struck an emotional chord with all of us, not only because he's so articulate, honest and open-hearted, but because we can all relate to his situation in one way or another. We've all been faced with prejudice and insensitivity in our lives, and although we might never be able to fully understand what it is like to live with a fatal disease, we do recognize some of the challenges it presents. I think that might be a key to breaking down the barriers of fear; there is nothing mystical or magical about HIV. It is a horrible disease that needs to be taken very seriously, but a person that has HIV is still a person like all the rest of us - dealing with the problems thrown at them the best they can like the rest of us - and not some kind of tainted, incomprehensible creature that we should ignore as much as possible.

I thank everybody who has shown me appreciation for initiating this and asking the questions, but of course the main man here is Chris. It's his story that has touched us, and his explanations that have helped us understand a thing or two we might not have known before. I definitely learned a lot! Thank you again Chris, and may you always keep your great spirit and open-hearted attitude, which I am totally convinced will reduce prejudice and even decrease the spread of HIV in the world. Knowledge is power, and with it we can do wonders.

cborgman said:

Possibly a healthier immune system having a stronger reaction? Which might also explain why you're somebody who is doing ok without meds.

Thanks for the thread. I know you avoid the " " kind of attention a lot, understandably, but I do think it's wonderful for people who don't know any HIV+ folks to have a sense of the reality of it.

Mwah!

Hey, Chris! You were supposed to send me an orgnote when you got back from visiting your mother. I never got that note!

Like I told you before when I orgnoted you...I can relate. If you ever want to unload on a perfect stranger, I'm here.

Thanks for the interview! Much love to you Borgman!

Smooches;)

Chris.... you dear, sweet, incredible man.

There is more honesty, positivity and life in this Q&A shared among mainly strangers than some people share with their intimate family, I am proud of you Chris for being so open and real with us, I would be a fool if I didn't learn something useful from this episode. This is possibly one of the best topics I've seen here at the Org in my brief time as a member, thank you for sharing with us.

I knew nothing, absolutely zero about this. Thanks for sharing Chris I wish you the best for the future

This is a fantastic thread

Chris, I have nothing but respect for you. You are amazing!

thanks for the insights mr. borgman. you're a helluva guy.

(and thanks to you retina for the interview)

Chris thank you for educating and sharing your story. I've stayed away from GD this past week as I was getting ready for some World AIDS Day stuff I was doing.

If you ever need someone to bitch about the joys and pains of being a person living with HIV remember I'm here for ya!!! I'm pretty easy to find on the net.


It's funny, I guess funny is the wrong word, how sometimes stories are so different yet so similar.

Thank you for sharing again!!! Luv Ya!!!

Eric

Thank you for this thread. It has helped me to get an insight into how you cope with this day-to-day which can only help me to understand what my friend is going through (who did actually spend his time trying to make me feel better!)

Thank you again

WOW guys, amazing thread - this is truly the Org @ its best

Thank you for being so open

you know, i've been hanging out on the org for about 8 years now and it
still amazes me how little i know of most people here. i guess that is
largely because i used to always hang out in prince music forum and the
minute i entered the GD forum i had less and less time to be here.

so you know, i didn't know yet. which i'm kinda ashamed to say cause it
makes me seem uninterested.

anywayz, i just wanted to say that this is a great thread and that i've
read it with a growing appreciation for both cborgman and retina.

good questions and mostly thorough and honest, open answers! that rocks

I love you so much Chris.

Thank you so much for the interview, Retina.

I like cborgman.

I have said it before Chris but you are a fine human being and an example of a vibrant soul willing to share his experiences with all of us. It might sound sick but I love your threads, amongst the "post the lyrics" "whatchas wearing" "org hottie" "smell my finger" “NSFW” threads, there are the true GD threads, the ones that touch us, that make us come back and feel like we are a real community. The ones I have to finish what I am doing first so I can read them properly. Your threads in particular have a beautiful balance of pathos and humour, "real life" that many of us take for granted. Thanks to you both for this thread.

I know it won't mean much, might be a bit weird, but you are my HIV positive person, the guy I know, the person I think about when I see the red ribbon on the jacket of the guy on TV. I don't know of any other people living with HIV, so when I get the reminder, I always think, I hope Chris is ok.

Keep strong, and please keep sharing!
[Edited 12/4/06 10:26am]

Thanks for sharing your story hun. Although I seen you around the org a bit, I never knew that you are infected with this disease. I was emotional a bit when you mention the part about you will expected to die in your mid-40s and that reminded me of how real and deadly this disease is.
I hope that you keep strong and also keep telling people about your experience.

As always, thanks for the insights, Mr. Borgman. You always bring depth to this joint.