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“I’m trying to shake it and not break it.” That was Uncle Brandon’s line. If his hands shook while he carried a plate, he would grin, say those nine words in his deep, gravelly voice, and then let out a cackle that filled the whole house. If he dropped his…

When most people hear the words “Parkinson’s disease,” typically the first thing that comes to mind is tremors. Before my husband was diagnosed, I had the misconception that a person with Parkinson’s was always a cute older man with thinning gray hair and a shaky hand. For my husband,…

A few weeks ago, my husband, John, and I were at a friend’s house for dinner. It was a delightful evening of dining al fresco, delicious food, and friends in a beautiful environment. There was only one problem: I couldn’t hear the conversation! Ack! I’ve known for years that I…

When many people picture Parkinson’s disease, they envision the tremors. Their hearts sink, and they get quiet, perhaps thinking of a distant relative or friend who had the condition. Before my dad’s diagnosis in 2013, I fell into this category, picturing a man we knew from church who stooped…

Every family has its own way of showing encouragement. Mine definitely did. When someone in our crew cocoon did something hard, we celebrated. We told them we were proud, noticed their progress, and reminded them of how far they’d come. So when Uncle Brandon was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease,…

There are few things more humbling than confidently giving someone credit for a job they didn’t do. That’s what happened to my family when an Ikea table suddenly showed up, fully assembled, in my aunt’s living room. Naturally, we assumed one of my cousins had put it together while everyone…

Almost every night during the warmer months, my husband, Arman, and I take a leisurely walk through our small neighborhood. It comprises just one street, and we have calculated that five laps around equals just over a mile. Since we both sit inside our house for hours, working all day,…

Rivalry made sense to me when it happened on a basketball court. Two teams, one ball, one scoreboard, and lines painted clearly enough that people yelling from the third row could pretend they saw everything perfectly. As a basketball official, I understood rivalry, and I loved it. Sports fans also…

As my late Uncle Brandon’s Parkinson’s disease progressed, my family became increasingly involved in helping him navigate appointments, medications, physical therapy, and everyday life. But somewhere along the way, we started making mistakes. At times, we began talking about Uncle Brandon more than we talked to him. At first,…

This month, Michael J. Fox turned 65. And I’ve had a crush on the man for almost 40 years. Back in the 1980s, when I grew up, the show “Family Ties” was at its height. It starred Fox as the teenage son of two ex-hippies, and he had…