One in a Million

My parents were really smart people, not in an Einstein sort of way, more in a Clark Griswold way. When I was a kid, we would take family vacations every summer, whether it was a trip to Tennessee to see family or to the Grand Canyon we never missed a summer. But we did not travel in the Family Truckster, we had a pickup truck with a camper shell that my sister and I rode in. And just so you know the windows were still in place so our parents could not hear those dreaded words that all kids say when traveling, “I’m bored, are we there yet?” We would beat on the windows and yell at them and they would just nod and smile as the miles passed by, well played.

You might be asking yourself, “what does that have to do with anything?”, well honestly nothing and everything. Since this end of the world Coronavirus pandemic started my little world has been turned upside down, and all I want to know is “are we there yet”, because I’M BORED! One of the amazing things about being diagnosed with something like Parkinson’s is how it can become such a large part of your life, and I am not talking about obvious physical issues, I am talking about the social aspect. Since I no longer work, my social interaction is centered around of all things, Parkinson’s disease, it’s crazy. It’s like being robbed at gun point and becoming best friends with the guy who stuck a gun in your face, and took your money! Who does that?

 There are many reasons I miss my Parkinson’s family, I miss the smiles, I miss the conversations, I miss seeing people at their absolute best, I miss working out and knowing I did my best, I miss Josette telling me how thin I am, I even miss Martie giving me the evil eye for man chatting , I miss it all. This time away has given me time to appreciate how far I have come since my diagnosis. I have gone from not wanting to be around others with the disease to missing others with the disease, who would have thought that was possible three years ago.

As I await the reopening of Rock Steady Green Valley, I want everyone, from Martie, Orlando, Gaylynn, and all my fellow boxers to know that there is not a day gone by that I have not thought about you all.  As a group we are special in many ways, our fight is our fight, yet we are not alone. Even in this Covid-19 lock down we are still Rock Steady!

See you soon, hopefully!   

Mark Hitechew