Beginning in 1971, give or take a few rotations of mama Earth, my warnings were a series of shocks about six months apart. First came 30 days of double vision. After a calm period of about six months, I awoke one day to find the right thumb had no feeling, and within a few days the entire right arm was virtually useless.

Amazing how quickly a right-handed person learns to use the left hand whose previous function was to provide a finger for a wedding ring at age 18!!

Excuse me I digress. However this does remind me of a series of other shocks (called four kids by age 25!), all of which were preceded by the really big shock.  In October of 1956 the school brain agreed to marry Mr. "C" Student, who never cracked a book. 

Now "back to the future" of 1971 – are ya with me?  The year is 1971,  there is this thing called mortgage –  and a wife and four rambunctious kids.  Get the picture?

Who needs something called Multiple Sclerosis, and a neuro who advises me to go home and gets things in order!!

Doc, I would if I could, I really would, but I have four teenagers at home, and a wife who is likely wondering what on earth she was thinking back in 1956.  

Well on with the story…

From the time Glenna said "I do,"  I had basically lived a charmed life.  But on this day in late 1971, I came home totally devastated, and I really didn't know what MS was. The days ahead were filled with the rollercoaster ride of which we are all so familiar.   

Somedays the roller coaster pauses tantalizingly at the top, only to plunge downward again.  Welcome to LIVING MS! 

For those who have had MS for several years, we've come to “go with the flow,”  and somehow keep trying to adjust the attitude such that the lemons get stepped on and become lemonade, or a close enough substitute!!

Randall Young

p.s.

Regarding the wife… well, the evening before graduation, it occurred to me that I just might not ever see her again if I didn't ask her for a date darn soon, like now!!

My years of high school were filled with sports, hunting and fishing. I was way into athletics, but was the “Mr. Magoo” of our class. I wore telescopes for glasses, and girls look right past guys with thick lenses (Lloyd Culwell and I know) because ...well you just catch on!  (A bit of “poor me” here.)

Well, I asked Glenna for a date, and she said “yes!”

Remember this is the class brain and I am "Mr. Dum Dum" who sat across from her in solid geometry class. To my utter amazement, she said “yes,” and me with no car or much money.

But we have stumbled, fought, loved, scraped and hung on to each other for all these years. We have one rule – "I will put up with you, if you will put up with me"– and trust me, she gets the short end of that deal.

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