Day After Christmas

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Bad Balance

Senior member
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
815
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
12/2010
Country
US
State
GA
City
Atlanta
Ok; I will confess...

Each year I buy myself a Christmas present. It has nothing to do with sensibility. In fact it is something that I want that I know no one will give me.

I guess that I am regressing to my youth. One year it might be a pocket knife. This year it was a pellet gun. I bought it for shooting targets as I did when my father was stationed in Alaska. We would go to the rifle range and shoot for competition with 22 rifles, laying prone and checking our targets with a scope. I went to a military boarding school in high school and we did the same there. A pellet gun seems so much less a firearm and more easy to explain than a "rifle". Same careful handling applies however. It can be a backyard plinker if not too noisy.

So; I am sorry that this bit has not much to do with ALS....except that I am reviewing past memories more often now. One excuse I came up with is that it will help me keep my hand eye coordination going with something that is not really athletic.

Do any other PALS have a secret to share?
 
I don't really have a secret to share but do identify with your new direction of reliving memories. It is the day after Christmas here on the coast of NC. It is snowing....which is quite unusual for us. My husband's family came yesterday for food and fun. The hope was that my husband would be able to use the new stair chair to go downstairs for the first time in about a month and half to eat Christmas dinner. Well, he had a rough morning with pain in his neck so we all decided it was eating upstairs where he could be comfortable. Today, my family was supposed to come from about 30 minutes away but with ice and snow in eastern North Carolina, we all decided home safe was the best bet. So here I sit remembering our wonderful one snow last year. My husband, my son and I went out and made a Tarheel snowman, threw snowballs, and had a great time. Wish we really could have realized at that time that this year we would be chair bound only watching the snow, I know I might never have come inside and would have embraced those moments even more. It is nice to have fond memories to reflect on.
 
We also are getting a big snow presently. Taking snow pictures is fun. Last year we also had far more snow than in decades, and I could still hold the camera, so I took them from inside. Meanwhile, my husband took 87 pictures before anything but his bootprints marred the beauty. It was such a joy for me to see the world outside in such unusual depth of snow. A lot of the pictures are in the computer, and one became the screen saver. I believe that the small things gain such importance. Whether it's memories of childhood, or watching nature through the window, the joy found in small details is much more precious.
 
Every year on the day after Christmas day (what we Canadians call "Boxing Day") millions go shopping for stuff at huge sale prices. As neither Beth or I are at all interested in braving crowd of rabid bargain hunters we participatecin a much more relaxing sport, bird watching, or more correctly, bird counting. Thousands of people across North America participate in Christmas Bird Counts and we have been doing this every year for the past 25. This year I can't get out and beat the bush but I'm watching the feeder and trying to ID all the birds I see. Lots of fun for very little energy.
Now if I only had a pellet gun identifying the birds would be so much easier, stay still you!
 
We do the bird count here too Barry. Too bad it wasn't a couple of weeks ago as we had the salmon spawning in our creek (big ones at least 18 inches long!), and the eagles were here fishing--as well as the herons. I love watching the horses react to the swooping birds at spawning time i.e. all big eyed, arched necks, snorting.
Laurel
 
Catcaniac, at least you realize how precious your time is now. I am very proud of how you are there for your husband, a little envious too. I have possible ALS and psuedobulbar palsy. My husband does not even take the time to learn what that is, and when i try to talk to him its like i am boring him and he ignores me, which makes me cry, he is so used to me crying he doesn't flinch. My stepfather takes me to my appointments now and my mom gets me out of my crying spells, and into laughing ones. Its a lonely existance and i am left to take care of my children as he works out of town a lot, they want their dad around more and then there goes my emotional breakdown! My husband isnt equipped with the personality to deal and i am no longer equipped with the reserve to not let him know exactly how i think or feel at any given moment....Enjoy the snow
 
Sammantha, my husband isn't very helpful either... he spent most of Christmas holed up in his room with an "I don't feel good" attitude (with a minor cold), leaving me as usual to do everything for my 3 kids. Hold old are your children? Mine are 17 (girl) and 2 boys, 13 and 11... and we had a wonderful Christmas this year, and its his loss in not spending more time involved with his family.

BTW, we were separated when I got my diagnosis (or not as the case may be) and he moved home to "help" me. Frankly, the only one who's really being helped is himself as he's been unemployed more than employed over the last 10 years or so. He doesn't want to talk to me about anything, and hasn't offered once to go with me to any of the doctor's appointments, I usually go alone or with a friend if its an emg. But I do know he cares about me, but he's too overwhelmed to help. I just pray that he'll step up to the plate if/when I do get really disabled, right now I have a lot of trouble with the stairs and walking, but still manage to get around for the most part. I also find it very difficult to ask for help as I've always done so much on my own – its strange to have to plan how I'm going to manage getting here or there. I can drive, I just can't walk right!

Please email me if you want to talk on the side, my email is hleger10 at charter.net if you'd like to do so... my daughter knows my diagnosis, but my sons do not, they just know that something neurological is going on with my legs.

We're in the middle of a blizzard right now, I love being holed up at home (hoping the electricity stays on so I don't HAVE to use the fireplace!). Stay positive, and keep those lines of communication open, even if its with online friends.

Hugs to you,

Helen
 
Bad Balance-
You'll shoot your eye out! Sorry, I couldn't resist. "A Christmas Story," is one of my favorite holiday movies. :wink:

No secrets to share, but I also look back a bit more on fond memories, especially during the holidays. It's a good thing.

Enjoy the new pellet gun and your second childhood.
 
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