Living My Best Life - a Column by Christine Scheer

I’m fortunate to have two daughters who are my pride and joy. We get along extremely well, and they’ve always been supportive of me, especially during my Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2015. After I had deep brain stimulation surgery in 2021, they both came to our farm to see…

Have you ever had to run for your life? I have — a couple of times. I attend a spin class every Thursday morning at our local Y. Although the class isn’t explicitly designed for people with Parkinson’s disease, I find it remarkable how good I feel…

I’ve been thinking about food a lot lately. This makes sense because I worked as a chef, a farmers market manager, a food columnist, and a community food adviser for most of my adult life. Food was my job, my entertainment, and my passion. Then my Parkinson’s came along…

When I was in college, I worked as a waitress. One of the things I found remarkable was that I could go to work grumpy and leave happy. Was it because my co-workers were so fun? (They were.) Was it because the food was good? (It was.) Was it the…

When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, I had been living the dream. I had two lovely daughters, a wonderful and supportive husband, a terrific extended family, and many good friends. I loved my job; I lived on an organic farm, ate healthy local and organic food,…

Stand up straight! Speak up! Pick up your feet! Sound familiar to anyone? I thought so. People with Parkinson’s disease often struggle to stand up straight or speak loudly and clearly, and we often shuffle our feet. The crazy thing is I grew up with my mother…

“Challenge yourself!” a fitness instructor once said to me. It was some of the best fitness advice I’ve ever received. In fact, it will be my mantra for 2024. In 2015, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Six years later, I had deep brain stimulation surgery. Before I…

The warm and comforting scents of Christmas infuse my memories. Yes, these smells are only memories since Parkinson’s disease snuck into my life and took away my sense of smell, like the Grinch that stole Christmas. It can’t take away my memories, though. One of my favorites goes…

The winter of 2022 was spectacular here in southwestern Ontario. It was cold enough for our pond to freeze for the first time in many years. Most weekends were sunny and icy cold, and our extended family and friends would come to our farm for a skating party. When we…

In 1991, my husband, John, and I got married, quit our jobs, and cycled around the world for a year. John was an engineer and I was a chef, and we had friends who’d traveled to Australia and Asia the previous year. “Why not?” we thought. It was a fantastic…