Columns

In the spring of 2006, I was with a cycling group that headed out for a ride up a mountain to the town of Lluc in Majorca, Spain. It was a beautiful day — warm and sunny with blue skies. In the distance, I saw ominous clouds moving in…

Fall is rapidly passing by, and with it goes your last opportunity to fly a kite. Even though April is National Kite Flying Month, I have always thought the blustery days of fall were the best time of year for kite flying. I love blustery days, when the wind…

BOOM! Abruptly out of bed, I’m disoriented by flashing lights reflecting on the bedroom walls. I sit on the edge of the bed and look out onto what should be morning sun, bringing to life the cheery reds of bee balm against a backdrop of white birches. Instead, the sky…

The sun peeks over the horizon, and before long Dad is up and at it. It’s a boxing day, and he wants to time his medications to optimize control over his Parkinson’s symptoms. The other part of his routine revolves around his morning stretches. Muscle rigidity is the…

I discovered this quote a while ago and found it to be inspiring: “It is impossible to be satisfied with existence once you have tasted purpose.” When you have Parkinson’s disease, it can sometimes feel as if you’re merely existing and no longer have a purpose.

Sometimes, I beat myself up when something goes wrong in my life. I convince myself that if I had only done it this way instead of that way, things may have turned out so much better. Or, if I had only said something different, I might have been more helpful.

Sunlight bounces its way through the swaying birches, projecting a shadow picture show on the lawn and garden shed. A light wind causes the fluttering leaves to sing in unison like waves on the shore. A family of hummingbirds — we have given all of them names now — take…

I thought I knew what to expect. But I was hoping that the first opinion was incorrect — that they had missed something or seen something that wasn’t there. I drove on, the second opinion soon to come. Entering through the sliding…

It is raining in southern Oregon. Do you know what’s good about so much rain? Things stay green all year long. It might seem depressing, but not today. Today, it’s raining, and though I have Parkinson’s disease, it’s a beautiful day. The birds are singing. Nothing keeps them…

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” wrote Henry David Thoreau while sitting on the edge of Walden Pond. We live in a post-9/11 world where income disparity threatens the pillars of well-being in democratic nations. Kings of the oligarchy are viewed as pallbearers to the…