Mind if we play through?

I enjoy that even with the challenges Jennifer and I face in living with MS, every day life is everyday life.

The effects of these challenges  – including everything from her inability to walk to my constantly numb hands and feet – merely are par for our courses of this disease.

It’s as though we are looking right at MS and asking, “Mind if we play through?” But we never stop to see if it’s granting us permission. We just tee it up and drive ourselves down the next fairway of our life together.

Sure, there are plenty of sand traps, trees, doglegs, divots, hazards, hooks and every other thing you can imagine to obstruct our play. Sometimes they do. And so we allow ourselves the needed time – you know, the occasional mulligan or drop – to regroup and get back into the swing of things.

Fore!

I relish the fact that most weekend nights, we pull into our eerily dark neighborhood. More often than not, our porch light is the only light on in the entire subdivision. It’s late. Everyone’s sleeping, except for us.

Like just this past weekend when we drove in close to midnight after dancing it up at WCMU’s annual Night of Louisiana on the Central Michigan University campus. As always, it was an incredibly fun evening of live zydeco and Cajun music.

And it’s at these moments I think about the realities of our life together: Jennifer and I both have MS and combined have taken on this disease for more than 25 years. Together we demonstrate the extremes of how MS impacts people so differently.

With this, our mission is do as much as we can through our writing – including this blog and our book, “Despite MS, to Spite MS” – speaking and living life to the fullest to increase MS awareness and help other people.

We are so proud and excited that the Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has invited us to present at its annual Little Black Dress for MS Brunch on Saturday, March 2, in Coralville, Iowa.

According to the Upper Midwest Chapter, “Little Black Dress for MS events are an opportunity for women (and men) to come together and support the 400,000 Americans who live with MS. … Come together to honor and recognize all people who stand strong in the face of MS.”

It is an incredible honor to serve as the featured speakers for this major NMSS event. We are hoping to see some of our friends and family members when we share our stories of living with and overcoming the challenges of life with a chronic condition, both as a person with MS and as a loving caregiver for a spouse living with the same disease.

To learn more about this event (and see what they’re saying about us!) and to register by Feb. 6, visit here.

And a special feature to note: This event is taking place at Brown Deer Golf Club. Tee time is 10 a.m.!