The elderly are able to take advantage of the van service that I use as well as the disabled. A few days ago a woman sat behind me. She observed, "you look healthy. I mean, you look really, really healthy." /eyes narrow I said, I have MS. She said her nephew had the disease and wasn't doing well with it. I said I was sorry. She said that she got rheumatic fever and was told that she would be dead by 30, but here she was at 91. The only complication was that she had a stint put in last year. She had lived in three countries, and been on television, and saved babies' lives in Haiti. And, "you should just pretend you're healthy and act like nothing's wrong."
My ex says this to me often too. Just pretend you never got diagnosed. I reflected on how that day would have gone if I didn't feel so rotten all of the time, plus stupid. I always wore long pants, even in the summer. Now, my ugly chicken legs are sticking out of shorts or a skirt. I would be in my own car, listening to NPR or flipping through my pre-programmed stations. I would stop for coffee, classroom supplies on the way home. This week, problem behaviors and parents dogpiling on. I would be planning fun trips with friends. I get frustrated so easily. And I feel like on top of it all, people think it's psychosomatic.
My ex says this to me often too. Just pretend you never got diagnosed. I reflected on how that day would have gone if I didn't feel so rotten all of the time, plus stupid. I always wore long pants, even in the summer. Now, my ugly chicken legs are sticking out of shorts or a skirt. I would be in my own car, listening to NPR or flipping through my pre-programmed stations. I would stop for coffee, classroom supplies on the way home. This week, problem behaviors and parents dogpiling on. I would be planning fun trips with friends. I get frustrated so easily. And I feel like on top of it all, people think it's psychosomatic.
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