Parkinson’s forces me to consider what I am passing along
Objects may be inherited, but what matters are the relationships behind them
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I’ve never been much of a gun person. Perhaps that’s why it took me so long to understand the shotgun that recently found its way back to my family.
My father told me it originally belonged to my grandfather Howard’s uncle, Edward Bernard Mooney. The serial number indicates it was manufactured in 1931, the year Howard turned 11. During the Great Depression, Howard hunted squirrels and rabbits with Uncle Edward — not for recreation, trophies, or social media photographs, but “to be able to afford meat on the table.”
Those words changed the object for me.
The Great Depression is often presented through statistics, breadlines, and the unforgettable photographs preserved by the Library of Congress. My family’s version can be held in two hands. It is wood and steel, worn by use and connected to the quiet arithmetic of hunger: one shell, one rabbit, one more meal.
Uncle Edward helped look after Howard. He encouraged him in sports and hunting and became his favorite uncle. The shotgun was therefore never only a tool for obtaining food. It represented a relationship — an older man teaching a boy how to survive, but also letting him know he was not surviving alone.
Howard later served with the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska during World War II. The shotgun remained part of another kind of service: the ordinary, mostly undocumented work families do to keep one another going.
It then traveled through generations: Edward to Howard, Howard to my uncle David, then to uncle Pat, and eventually back to our branch of the family. It has lasted almost a century.
What carries us through
Living with Parkinson’s disease has made me think differently about objects, bodies, and inheritance. The disease can cause tremor, slowness, and rigidity. Those words are clinical, but their daily meaning is personal. A button becomes a test. A fork becomes an instrument. A doorway can become an obstacle. An object that once disappeared into the background suddenly demands negotiation.
A shotgun may be an uncomfortable symbol in that context. It is designed around steadiness, timing, and control — the very things Parkinson’s likes to disrupt. I do not intend to romanticize guns, poverty, or the desperation of hunting because a family cannot afford meat. I also do not need to fire this shotgun to recognize its significance.
Its value is in the relationship.
That may be the deeper inheritance. My grandfather did not simply receive a firearm. He received attention, instruction, and confidence from Uncle Edward. Later generations did not merely pass down property; they accepted temporary responsibility for preserving a story.
Parkinson’s has forced me to consider what I am passing along. My kids may inherit possessions, photographs, and boxes of papers. I hope they also inherit evidence that their father kept adapting — that when his body became less dependable, he became more deliberate about depending on others.
The Parkinson’s community talks often about living well, developing practical adaptations, and building support. Those ideas can sound like advice from a brochure until you realize families have always survived through adaptation and support. The tools change. The need does not.
In 1931, a shotgun helped two Mooneys put meat on a table. Nearly 100 years later, it has given another Mooney something different: perspective.
I used to see an old gun. Now I see Uncle Edward beside an 11-year-old boy. I see my grandfather learning that hardship could be met with skill, responsibility, and companionship. I see my dad preserving the explanation before the names and details disappeared.
And I see a reminder that what carries us through life is rarely the object in our hands. It is the relationship behind it.
Note: Parkinson’s News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Parkinson’s News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Parkinson’s disease.
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