What Am I Thankful For? Two Years and Counting

Two years.

After I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, one of my first questions was how long I had before I needed a wheelchair.

My fear was that I had only had a couple of weeks or months before life as I knew it became unrecognizable.

I've only had one MS attack so far. It left a few scars (or "sclerosis," in Latin), but its nothing that I can't handle. There's no way to know what kind of damage the next one might do.

So I'm just hoping not to have another attack, at least anytime soon.

When I read somewhere that on average, someone with my kind of MS on my kind medication, went two years between their first attack and their second, I was thrilled.

I had the promise of two years of free life, by which I mean two years to live life in a manner that didn't require a lot of adjustment.  I had to give up dairy and fatty food and be sure to exercise all the time, and some days, for no apparent reason, I would wake up and feel like I got hit by a bus. But those were just adjustment at life's margins.

I'm sure life goes on and wheelchair bound folks find plenty of ways to make it meaningful, but I was hoping for time to do as much as possible of the living I still had on my bucket list.

That was two years and 15 days ago.

So it wasn't hard to think of what I was thankful for this year.  According, to whatever I read at some website I can't remember slightly over two years ago, I'm officially beating the odds.

It's easy to take things for granted in life. I still do it, even though I try to remember that this sunset might be last one where my eyes work, or this Monday when I don't really wanted to write a brief, it might be the last case I ever get to work on.

I remember the feeling I had when I was in the midst of my first attack. I was almost done with a brief and I was afraid it might be the last one I might ever finish. I packed up my office, just in case.

I decided to go out with a bang, and I was prouder of that argument than any other one I've done in a long tme.

I've written many more briefs since, and I wish I could say I approach every brief that way now.

I wish I could approach every day that way.

I wish I could approach life that way.

I try to.

Sometimes it works.

I'm so thankful for the chance I've been given to still feel like myself, but I'm also going to be a little bit greedy.

I'm hoping that at this time next Thanksgiving, I'll have some other new adventures to be thankful for, including some half marathons and pretty sunsets.

I hope you have some adventures too. Try to, if you can, because this year isn't guaranteed for any of us.

Life is hard sometimes. Don't lose sight of the things that make it worthwhile.

Go hear some music.

Watch or read something that makes you laugh.

Call someone who loves you.

And be thankful for all the above.