July 13, 2011
I live with Parkinson’s — with its challenges — every day, every hour. Wisdom from a variety of commencement speakers, excerpted in the July 15 issue of The Week offers support to transforming life’s troubles for graduates, for those with diagnoses, for a nation. Toni Morrison encourages looking beyond the pursuit of happiness to that of meaningfulness. Samantha Power suggests being fully present. Jonathan Franzen talks of real love. Such yogic advice. Especially since living with one life challenge doesn’t grant me a Get Out of Jail Free card for other ailments. Colds happen. Sprains and bug bites and headaches, too. I turn to yoga. But, I also carry a little white card in my wallet. It lists my doctors and the medications I take. If I’m in a car accident or get knocked unconscious by an overzealous sports fan, my neurologist can be alerted and the hospital can be […]
July 7, 2011
Coleslaw Mockingbirds Cloud reflections in still water The poems of Mary Oliver Watching thunderstorms pass from the front porch swing Painting with my sister Fireflies Pink toenail polish When a hummingbird, hovering at the red feeder, dipping its beak in while its wings are a-flutter, decides to rest on the perch and sip.
July 3, 2011
Sometimes, we meet individuals who change us, help us grow more into ourselves. They exude courage, acceptance, love. These qualities permeate the space between us until we, too, become more courageous, accepting, loving. I spent a full weekend surrounded by more than 40 of these very people. At the first, APDA-sponsored Parkinson’s Disease Arts & Movement Weekend, we gathered not to mourn our losses living with a degenerative disease but to celebrate the abundance of all we have, all we can do, all that we are. Together, we danced, sang, moved through yoga and Tai Chi. We learned to shift perspective of our world to that of a photographer’s eye and to create, express, and simply play with paint and color. We became, not people with PD, but dancers, yogis, artists. Courage If courage means letting go of the familiar, courage checked in to the PD Arts & Movement Weekend with […]