A Little MS with a Little MSW

Most blogs have a theme, right? Travel blogs, cooking blogs, fitness blogs…

I’m not knocking that approach – I just…I’m not super consumed by any one topic. When I created this blog, I obviously planned to hone in on the two facets of my life that people would assume are all-consuming – my diagnosis and my graduate studies – but I pride myself too much in being a multidimensional human and am too committed to my attention deficit disorder to constrain myself like that!

Here are some things that have been swirling around my brain lately, none of which are necessarily related:

1. My MS medication weakens my immune system and opens me up to all sorts of infections. I’ve been taking it for a little over a year now and have definitely been hit with a whirlwind of stubborn funk these last six weeks or so. It sucks and I hope it is resolved soon.
2. I’ve acquired a mysterious 15 lbs in the last six months or so that I think wants to propose or something. I mean, seriously…WTF? I’ve been exercising like it’s my job, but I can’t run far enough or fast enough for those persistent little SOB’s. Plus, I really like Crumbl cookies. Sigh… I think this exact dilemma is the birthplace of the phrase ‘the struggle is real.’
3. Two people in my community that I had a loose affiliation with and were roughly my age, died suddenly and unexpectedly during these last few months. One was a lady who attended my same undergraduate institution. I have sparse memories of her (always smiling), but we had multiple friends in common. She was on her way to work and was T-boned by a truck. Boom. Dead. The other was a teacher at my daughters’ middle school. Died in his sleep. At school on Tuesday, joking around with the students, never woke up Wednesday morning…
4. I love gnomes. And Christmas. Christmas gnomes are just the icing on the cake. Last year, my mom bought me enough gnome ornaments to decorate a full-size Christmas tree, and that tree makes me so happy. In the same vein, it’s ok to like Christmas. Many will scream that it’s too commercialized or that not everyone is Christian, and all of that is true. But what is also true is that we have to find our joy in life. Some people will find it in Christmas lights, or in the twinkle in a child’s eye who believes in the magic of the season. The Christmases of yesterday will always remain among my happiest times. Find your joy.

Until next time, dear readers…