Recently I chanced upon a re-broadcast of an entrée from the PBS series, “American Masters.” As the subject, Andrew Wyeth, was one of my late dad’s favorite artists, I enthusiastically opted in. It did not disappoint. Beyond inspiring…
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Social distancing? Shelter in place? For many like me who live with ALS, the recent COVID-19 guidelines to “stay home” and “work from home” are what we already do! Every. Single. Day. Getting out and about for a quick trip to the grocery store or a meal at…
After my husband, Todd, was diagnosed with ALS, we battened down the hatches to prepare for the coming storm. We moved to be near family in the Keweenaw Peninsula, a sliver of land that stretches into Lake Superior. The big lake is an apt metaphor for life with ALS.
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Appreciating My Partner
My 14-year-old daughter woke me up at 4:45 a.m. “Do you hear that?” “Hear what?” I asked groggily. “You don’t hear anything?” Panic rose in Sara’s voice. “No.” I sat up. “You don’t hear that?” she said, just after I too heard a high-pitched chirp. “Yes,” I said. “It sounds…
“Baby, you can drive my car …” I was reminded of that Beatles lyric last Sunday while listening to my pastor’s sermon. Titled, “Taking the Back Seat,” the sermon’s theme was about subordinating our desire for control in favor of…
Spring — the kickoff for a multitude of ALS awareness events — is just around the corner! Many are already gearing up, and this is my signal to dial up my mental resilience. It helps me support their messages while keeping a firm hold on my sense of me.
After three weeks of my husband, Todd, being cloistered in our home with a cold, we ventured out Saturday for Michigan Tech’s last home hockey game of the season. Our Huskies took on their archrival, the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Games between the two teams usually sell out because…
Oh, how I wish living with ALS weren’t so murky: We don’t know its cause, we don’t have a cure, and we measure symptom progression by way of 12 questions. I can’t do anything about the cause or cure, but I’m up on my soapbox (the one with the…
I didn’t react when a spine care specialist mentioned ALS as a possible cause of my husband’s weak arm, because I didn’t know what ALS was. Todd and I talked about daily life during the drive home from the appointment, and it wasn’t until later that evening when the kids…
“I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” That sentiment, expressed by comedian Groucho Marx in 1949 about his affiliation with a particular social organization, was exactly my reaction in learning of…
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