On Living With Parkinson’s Disease

At first the news seems overwhelming, crushing.

But as one lives with this condition, one starts to ponder.

If I were a snail and moved slowly along the pavement while dogs, cats, even insects rushed by me, would I feel disadvantaged?

If I were an ungainly albatross, whose clumsy landings have earned him the name of “gooney bird,” would I be ashamed?

If I were a crow, whose raucous caw scared away the songbirds, would I spend my life regretting that I was not one of those singers?

So, too, my slow gait, occasional falls, and problems of articulation are only felt if I hold myself up to a standard of what it means to be me.

But trees that bend in the wind do not fall over.

And as God made the albatross and the crow, so also He gives me strength to embrace the new creature I am becoming.