My Crazy Parkinson's Life
My Crazy Parkinson’s Life
The Gift
Sometimes things happen and I wonder, if it was fate or just dumb luck. I will give you an example, you have been offered a new job, but you’re not sure if you should take it. On your way home from the interview, you stop off at Panda Express and grab some dinner. After polishing off the fried rice and orange chicken, you bust out your fortune cookie. After struggling to open the little bag, you can now see what your future holds; and it says “new opportunity for success will come your way, take it”. Is that by chance that you received that fortune, or was that a message from the great panda in the sky? You might think I am crazy, but sometimes those fortunes are so close to what’s happening in your life it’s creepy.
I know you must be thinking that first paragraph was a waste of a 146 words and you might be right, but stay with me I will explain. Last Saturday was our Rock Steady Boxing Christmas party, and I spoke a few words to thank everyone who is a part of my Parkinson’s life. I spoke of the love I feel for them; I spoke about how we are a family and how we love and support each other unconditionally. I said, after being diagnosed with PD, I could have never envisioned myself standing in front of a room full people telling everyone how happy I am, but there I was.
I have never had many friends, my relationships within my family are all I ever needed. I know a lot of people, but I am not good at maintaining relationships; and to be honest, I feel as if I am bugging people when I call, so it kind of all falls apart. Two of my closest friends are in their 30’s, I am the father they never had, so they are like family to me. That formula had worked for 57 years, but in 2017 that changed. As close as I am to my family, I felt so alone February 13, 2017 and that loneliness continued for months. No matter what my family said, I would respond with some comment about “you wouldn’t understand”; and honestly, they did not, it was scary.
I started boxing to keep active and keep Rosalie off my butt. As it turned out, the physical aspect would turn out to be second most important thing boxing provided; emotional support became number one. As my PD relationships grew so did my happiness, and those relationships soon became friendships, and those friendships became what I have today, a family. We don’t share DNA, but what we do share is a common foe, and lust for life. Nothing is stronger than backing a family into a corner, the gloves come off, or in our case it’s gloves on!
I am thankful to all of you for what you have done for me. I never feel alone in this fight, and your efforts inspire me to push even harder. I have seen a lot in the past 5 years at RSB, I have made friends and lost friends. I have had the gruffest looking people come up to me and say “I Love You”, with tears in their eyes. I have seen what Huey Lewis sang about in “The Power of Love”, it has been an amazing journey and one I hope to continue for years to come.
Back to the fortune cookie, at RSB Christmas party, we had a gift exchange; completely random, I drew #5. Number 5 turned out to be a coffee cup, but not just any coffee cup, it’s special. It says “My Friend, you are the family I got to choose” and inside it says, Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times”. Exactly what I had spoken about earlier, coincidence or a sign from above? You tell me.