The Glass is Half-Full

I fell off the wagon. Well, that might sound a little accidental. When in reality it was more like, "I'm getting bored with this wagon ride, so I think I'll just get off here." And then I kicked the crap out of that wagon until it was but a distant dot down the road. In this case the wagon was my commitment to that silly Wii Fit. I got tired of hearing that stupid trainer say things like "you seem a little wobbly today" (to which I would say something classy like "No shit Sherlock!") or for the scale to move ever so slightly - and ever-so-slightly wasn't  enough to keep me motivated. I needed more!!! So, I jumped off the wagon. Makes a lot of sense, right? WRONG!  But justification is a powerful thing and something I've nearly perfected these many years losing, then gaining, then losing, then gaining . . . the same 40 pounds. Heck, you could say that by now I have a PhD in Justification.  And here's the thing, that wagon is st...

I sat down for breakfast yesterday, reading the daily paper (more like perusing actually) and then the National Multiple Sclerosis' Michigan chapter newsletter. These two seemingly unrelated choices of reading material had a whole lot in common yesterday, though, and they caused my blood to boil and to get my 'Irish up". One of the obits in the paper was for a 51 year-old woman- her family was requesting donations be sent to the MS Society. (I confess to now reading the obits - something I used to believe only old people read. But since I'm NOT old and I'm reading the obits, I guess I was wrong!) Just last week, I learned of another person with MS that had died at a young age of 50-something. In the MS newsletter, a rather slim edition filled mostly with fundraising events, I read about the 'promising research' partially funded by the MS Society. I wanted to scream! "In 1993, Betaseron was released to market," the article began , "as th...

Day six of my daily Wii-Fit routine.  (Well. actually day five since I had to miss Saturday for Delaney's singing competition at Western Michigan University where I had to schlep from the parking ramp to the music building and back a few times which felt like exercise enough so that by the time I got home, I was too tired to Wii). I enjoy some of the activities or exercises more than others - including the marching band, Kung Fu and boxing. If you're not familiar with Wii Fit, I'm sure it sounds fairly lame and not much of an 'exercise'. But for someone who is way out of shape, it's a start and kind of fun! For the marching band, I imagine the high school band director, Andrew Holtz, snickering as I often march out of rhythm. And I remember Matthew laughing at me (not with ) when he saw me doing the Kung Fu and John did the same when he saw me boxing. I now do Wii in the privacy of the basement when no one is around so I don't have any more memories of inc...

John sent me this article a few months back and I cannot tell you how many times it has resonated with me - especially with our oldest, Michael. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/booming/when-theyre-grown-the-real-pain-begins.html?_r=0 Michael is graduating from Wabash College in May and will be attending law school in the fall. The search for law schools has been totally on his shoulders and I have been amazed at how different this is from when he was looking for colleges. While he was in the driver's seat for the college search, John and I were always there as passengers; visiting colleges, weighing the options and sharing our opinions. The college search process has a place for parents - the admissions counselors always meet with us and we are often as much a target of their marketing/sales pitch as the student. Not so for law or graduate schools - we only know what Michael shares with us. And that's the way it should be, I know. I have caught myself going online to r...

As I was slathering on lotion after my shower the other day, I made the mistake of glancing in the mirror. And the thought that leapt to mind was, "I'm Rubenesque". The next thought was, "I am not happy with that analogy!" Of course the latter thought was more strongly worded and might have included an expletive or two. Or three or four. In a society that champions thin, Rubenesque is certainly not a prized state of being and it is taking all kinds of courage to admit this in this public forum, but I feel it's something I must do to get my Rubunesque butt into a more desired shape. I have let my MS gradually immobilize me to the point where fear of falling or tripping or looking klutzy are the glue that's keeping me in place. And the glue is made all the stronger by the snow and ice awaiting me as soon as leave the house. Nothing good can happen by hibernating in fear - in fact quite the opposite. So, I've committed to daily exercise - for now...

This is a face I don't see anymore - except in my memories. That of my little brother Michael. Today would have been his 46th  birthday - but this senior picture is how I will always remember him because he was taken from us just a couple years after his senior year. I don't want to dwell on the sad details - because there are many and they can still all these years later bring me to tears. Because today is his birthday, I want to write about the many gifts he bestowed on those that he loved. Bernard Michael Bowen was the youngest of five. The rest of us have names that start with the letter K - but Michael from birth was going to be unique. Named for his paternal grandfather, whom everyone called Barney. No one called Michael, Barney, until high school when many were adopting nicknames. His friends would jokingly call him Barney! And like nearly everything else in his life, he seemed to smile and shrug it off and go with the flow. He played, and loved, football. A...

I know I don't look, or act, old enough but Dick Clark was a huge part of my childhood and adolescence.  I watched American Bandstand on Saturdays throughout my school years. I loved to dance and I could watch and dance along with the 'really groovy' dancers on the Bandstand. It was my view into the latest music, dance moves, and fashion! I could see what the girls from the big city of Philly were wearing and try to adorn myself in something similar in the big suburbs. Next to Seventeen magazine, it was my best source for fashion!! Now mind you this is 'back in the day' when most homes only had one TV. And I don't think ours was color until the mid-to-late 70s. So, I would have to announce to my four siblings that it was my turn for the TV at 12:30 when the Bandstand came on. You can imagine the number of times actually sibling warfare broke out - you know name-calling, pillows flying, arms flailing. Often times we'd end up laughing. And then later the...