Hi,
  I remember that I was pretty unhappy when I learned that Pizza and
Milk Shakes were no longer the staples of my diet.  My wife was even
more upset when she realized that marrying me meant that *she* wasn't
going to be able to make all those cream sauce recipes that she loved
so much.  (Either cook something else, cook two dinners, or get used
to me bringing home my own dinner.)

  She's coped quite well, and learned dozen's of new things that you
can do with tomato and fruit based sauces.  She gets cream sauces when
we go out, and Pizza's when I'm out of town.

  For me, going off milk meant that I started living without pain and
could sleep all night.  This improved my basic attitude towards life
much more than losing the pizza.

  I joke with friends about my 'condition', and presented lightly
there's no problem with people wanting me to join them in a pizza.

  At a recent cook-out, when my host asked whether I wanted a hot-dog,
or a burger, I informed him that I wanted the burger, because  every
cow that goes to burgers is one fewer that's being milked, and I was
saving the world from lactose-intolerance one-cow-at-a-time.

  In my age range (mid 40's), many of my friends are also becoming
lactose intolerant, and that makes it easier to arrange group food.

  Basicly, hang in there, living without milk is a small price to pay
to live without the dietary problems.  It does get better.

        Clif