It all comes back to Parkinson's Disease
This is post number 600 for this blog. Whenever you hit a milestone number like this, it gives you an opportunity to look back and reflect on your work while also being able to look forward to what's ahead.
It started four years ago as a way to be able to write stories about my life with Parkinson's Disease. Some were funny. Some were poignant, Some were both. It also gave me a forum to talk about others battling the same disease, including more celebrities than you would think.
After a year I became bored of writing just about Parkinson's. While it's always there, most of us live our lives as normal as possible and try to focus on other things. The good news is there are all kinds of stories out in the world to write about. If you don't believe that, just turn on your television for thirty seconds. The better news is in this forum, no one tells what you can and can not write about. Freedom, baby!!
I was moving on...away from Parkinson's story...or so I thought.
One year I focused on writing about homelessness and Melanoma. An odd combination but both were a part of my life at close to the same time. Both are pretty somber topics but they were certainly different than the Parkinson's stories. WRONG! SO WRONG!
It was the Parkinson's (along with some bad decisions and a lack of ambition...therapy helps you realize your flaws) that led to not being able to work and ending up in a shelter for close to two years. It was also Parkinson's that caused a vitamin deficiency that was a major factor in my getting Melanoma.
See how it's interconnected? I'm not done yet...not even close.
I write about Music all the time. Nothing P.D. related there. Well, at least there wasn't until Linda Ronstadt announced she had Parkinson's. Damn! Not to mention Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, Leo Fender, of Fender Guitar fame and record producer Richard Perry. Did you know his future ex-wife Jane Fonda has a Parkinson's blog?
Fuck! I can't get away from it no matter how hard I try.
Even in the sports world it's hard to escape from Parkinson's. Do you remember back in 1988 when Kirk Gibson hit a dramatic World Series game winning home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers? I was at that game and now almost thirty years later we're connected again. Gibby has Parkinson's. So does Jimmy Piersall. So did one of my childhood heroes, Muhammad Ali.
But...but...but...Howie...you seem to be writing a lot about Donald Trump. Nothing Parkinson's related about that?
Are you kidding me? Repeal of Obamacare and losing insurance because of preexisting conditions is always in the back of my mind. But Medicare is coming up in five months? Oh yeah...he's going to mess with that, too. Me and Donny are all about the Parkinson's....all about it!!
Okay....that's enough about the past. What about moving forward? I'm not sure I have 600 more of these in me. I can't picture another four years of this. But, I did recently breakdown and buy some business cards. So now that I've invested ten bucks into this, I'm not going anywhere for awhile.
I have no idea what the main topic of this blog will be for 2017. I do know that it's apparent that Parkinson's Disease stories will be part of it. Maybe it's a sign that I'm suppose to write that book I talked about four years ago....maybe. I do know that I'm grateful for the opportunity to do this. I'm also grateful and more than a little surprised that so many people in many countries read this each week. Shocked is the better word.
So for now, as my bud Joe Walsh (the musician not the nutjob wanna be politician) says, we'll just take things One Day At A Time.
Here's the first blog post from way, way back in 2013. I was so much older then I'm younger than that now!
Did you know you can subscribe to my blog? Of course you did but here's how that can happen. Head to the right side of the screen, find the subscribe link, plug in your email address and click it. Pretty simple and you'll get notified that there's a new post. That way you can read the next 600 of these things...KILL ME NOW! I do promise we won't spam you and you can quit anytime you like. Win/Win!!