"A FULL LIFE"

By Kelly Tomlinson


What is the definition of a full life? It depends on the person. We are all individuals, our lives and our MS symptoms vary. Take my life for example. As a child my days were filled with school, homework, sports, playing outside, piano lessons and sleep. Yes, I would say I lived a full life back then.


When I went off to college, my days consisted of school, partying, homework, more partying, working a job, intramural sports, and even more partying. Not much time for sleep but that didn’t matter, I was living a full life.


After graduating from college it was time to go out into the real world. I started working a job where I traveled all the time. My idea of living a full life back then included the following schedule: go to work at 6:00 a.m., get off work at 10:00 p.m., go to the bar with my work buddies until closing time at 2:00 a.m., return to the motel room to sleep and get back up at 6:00 a.m. This usually went on 7 days a week. After 2-3 months I would get a couple of weeks vacation time, then back to the grind.


After many years of living on the road I was diagnosed with MS and I did some serious lifestyle changes, the best of which was getting married and having a family. During this time the days were filled with husband and father duties, those being but not limited to: working, community involvement and volunteering, mowing the lawn, gardening, barbecuing, assisting with cooking and cleaning house (which were the best ways to keep my wife happy), school functions, helping my son with his homework and cheering him on at his various extracurricular activities. Yes indeed, definitely living life to the fullest.


Now that my son has graduated and is in the Air Force, and my MS has progressed to the point where I am on disability, my days are occupied with a little bit of volunteer work, a little bit of gardening, a little bit of reading, a little bit of cooking, enjoying quality time with my wife and a lot of rest. My feeling is that life doesn’t get any better than this.


As I look back over my lifetime, I realize the stages of life I have gone through each have their own meaning of a full life, that each of us live full lives in our own way. This reminds of the saying, "one man’s junk is another man’s treasure." To paraphrase that, one man’s boring life is another man’s full life. 

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