Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

a picture of strength:  granny, my mom, me & aunt polly from 2000
from 2000, a picture of strength: granny, my mom, me & aunt polly

happy St. Patrick’s Day and on this fun and festive day, we all are a little Irish. my Irish grandmother, my granny or grandma ruby as i called her, certainly believed we all were. she was a wonderful, generous, fun, stubborn and proud woman. i hope/know that i inherited some of those traits from her. 

 

the one trait i’m not certain i inherited from her but am certain we shared is multiple sclerosis. granny never had a definite ms diagnosis.however after giving birth to her third child, she was told that, “she probably had ms.” in her day, doctors didn’t have the m.r.i.  

i’ve always been told that after having her baby, she lost the use of her left side. poof … gone. she and her new son went home to 2 young daughters and she did the best she could. my aunt polly, her sister, helped care for granny and her children. 

then one day, poof … it came back. she regained the use of her left side. granny never understood the cause or reason why this happened. and even now, the mysterious illness still remains a mystery.

but she lived with ms. granny would occasionally have trouble with her balance, falling sometimes. her penmanship was inconsistent, sometimes neat and sometimes quite third grade. i make fun because mine is like that, too. but unlike those of us currently living with ms, granny had no interferons or iv steroids or help from the ms society. she had her family, her faith and pride. that was her life. multiple sclerosis could not and did not stop her. 

so when i get frustrated and upset by this darn disease, i take a deep breath and remember what my granny went through.  and realize, i am pretty lucky living with ms right now.

for my granny and for all of us living with or caring for someone with multiple sclerosis, i share this…

   

 

An Irish Blessing

 

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

 

Again, have a Happy St Patrick’s Day!

 

2 Responses to Happy St. Patrick's Day!

  1. Jennifer – how inspirational about your granny. And interesting that her symptoms seemed to come and go. Also – I love the Irish blessing. I’m a little slow to read this since St. Patrick’s Day is long gone for this year. But thanks!

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