kadyellebee

Like Kristine, most of my AIDS experience comes from Robin and Stone on GH. I had just come online for the first time at the end of that storyline, and of course my first thing to search for was GH stuff. Boy, did I find GH stuff. But the list that stands out most in my mind is a Robin and Stone newsletter I joined that also had a weekly chat. I met some amazing people in those chats, many of whom were HIV+ or had full-blown AIDS. The list petered out about a year after that, but the friendships I made didn’t. Out of those friends I made, only two are still living right now. I really miss the others, but I’m glad that now they’re happy and heathy again, wherever they are.

Any other GH fans remember Lee Mathis? He played Jon Hanley, a friend of Lucy’s, on the show, and both he and the character had AIDS. When he died in 1996, the R&S mailing list made a quilt square in honor of his life, for the NAMES Quilt. A lot of us, me included, made a small panel, and they were all sewed up into the big one. It’s a really great way to remember the people who have passed on. : )

Kristine also mentioned R&S’s song When Angels Cry. That is such an incredible song, performed by the equally incredible Janis Ian. The song and the storyline GH gave me have stuck with me for the last 5 years, and it probably always will.