One In A Million
“MAKING ORANGE JUICE”
One of the most famous lines in the movie Forrest Gump is the classic “Mama always said life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”. And Mama was right, you maybe humming along getting caramel filled chocolates, then all the sudden you bite into one of the ones filled with candied fruit, yuck. That’s life with Parkinson’s you’re cruising through life and in the time it takes to say “you have Parkinson’s disease”, you bit into the wrong piece of chocolate, except with Parkinson’s you cannot spit it out and stick the remainder back in the box, you bit it, you own it. The disgusting taste never really goes away. Brush your teeth all you want; the taste is always there.
My view on having Parkinson’s is all over the place, I am frightened by the unknowns of living with this disease, and more so, I am frightened by the knowns. But in the same breath I am proud of what I have become, a warrior fighting for my life, that may seem dramatic, but it’s not, it’s the truth. As much as I want to suppress my fear it is always there, the realization that no matter what I do, this is a fight I will someday lose is hard not to think about, but that’s life.
But don’t let those words discourage you, my life with Parkinson’s a success story. I have accepted my fate, and in doing so, it has set me free. I no longer wonder what my life will be like 5 years from now, I now only care about how windy will it be tomorrow. I have had people tell me how brave I am or how inspirational I am, and I never feel worthy of that kind of praise. Because the truth is, I am not brave, I am scared. What I do and why I do it, is driven by my fear of not being able do it in the future. I am literally cramming 20 years of life into 10-year bag. And if at the end of 10 years if I get lucky and I am handed another bag I will race to fill that one too.
You might be wondering why this was titled “Making Orange Juice”, the wait is over. I was talking to my wife this morning and I got on the subject of all the physical activity I am doing. I told her without thinking, having Parkinson’s is like making orange juice, each day you are given an orange, and it is up to you to squeeze every last ounce of juice out of that orange till the glass is full. So… every day I grab a new orange and I squeeze it till it’s dry, because as I see it, you can never get enough vitamin C, and that’s why I always order a large glass.
Written by Mark Hitechew