Life After 23

There comes a time when each of us must say, "I can't do it alone."  Each of us, sooner or later.  We hold out our hands and say to someone, "Help me."  When that time comes, all we have left is our trust. ~ Perry Mason As you can tell from the quote above, I love Perry Mason.  I've been watching a lot of it recently.  Lying in bed tends to go by a lot faster trying to beat him to figuring out who the killer is. When I'm not watching Perry, I have a lot of time to think.  I have slowly been coming to terms with the fact that normal as I knew it - or wanted to know it - will never be.  This disease keeps progressing, and apparently fighting it on my own has contributed to that.  When that began to sink in, I realized that my very survival rests on my ability to ask for help. Perry got me thinking.  It's not just humbling to ask for help.  It's vulnerable.  Admitting you need help doesn't just hurt your pride; it thr...

For most of us, there comes a time in life where basic functions become celebrations.  Where abilities that were once take for granted are now mountains we must climb.  Where often modesty and personal dignity step aside in the face of necessity. These inevitable moments may arise after a surgery, when the recovering patient can finally use the restroom on his own instead of in a bedpan held by a nurse.  A new mother finds sweet satisfaction in the ability to shave her own legs after months of not seeing her own feet.  The simple words "yes" and "no," uttered from a stroke patient's mouth, brings victorious tears to everyone in the room. Whether it's relatively short-lived or stems from a long-term illness, these experiences force us to look at ourselves - and the people around us - differently.  Others often surprise us with their "true colors," as it were.  The gruffest person we know could become our most attentive friend.  Those we thought ...