{"id":4722,"date":"2019-08-01T09:30:42","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T14:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/?p=4722"},"modified":"2019-08-08T15:28:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T20:28:11","slug":"do-you-know-how-lucky-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/do-you-know-how-lucky-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Know How Lucky You Are?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While my grandkids were here last week, we read books every night before bed. And, of course, each night at least one book had to be by\u00a0Dr. Seuss<\/a>. The night before they left, we read \u201cDid I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are<\/a>?\u201c<\/span>\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

It starts out by offering some rather sound advice:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think things are bad,<\/span><\/p>\n

when you feel sour and blue,<\/span><\/p>\n

when you start to get mad \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

you should do what I do!<\/span><\/p>\n

Just tell yourself, Duckie,<\/span><\/p>\n

you\u2019re really quite lucky!<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people are much more \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

oh ever so much more \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

oh, muchly much-much more<\/span><\/p>\n

unlucky than you!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Dr. Seuss then spends the rest of the book expounding on all the different ways the reader is lucky as a ducky.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most people would agree that having been handed a diagnosis of\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s disease\u00a0is anything but lucky. In fact, it can be downright scary. Even so, there are things to be thankful for. Things that cause you to pause and say, \u201cI am so lucky\u201d or \u201cI am so blessed.\u201d Things that take your mind off the unknown. Things that give you\u00a0hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, I fell
\n<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

I was puttering in my yard, trying to eradicate the wounded and the dead and replace them with the new. I stepped down on the shovel to finish digging the hole for a salvia plant, and I lost my balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It seemed as if I was falling in slow motion.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the way down, all I could think of was hitting my head on one of the rocks that line the pathway. Some of them are sharp. I fell hard on my arm and then, with a rocking motion, came to a halt, my head never touching the ground. I waited a minute to assess the damage before trying to get up. No pain. No scratches. I was lucky. I was blessed. Given what could have been a terrible accident (considering the\u00a0DBS\u00a0wires tucked in my brain), I was indeed blessed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Life is so beautiful<\/span><\/h2>\n

I went over to my grandson\u2019s house yesterday to help him and his mom weed their backyard. When we had finished, he began yelling for his mom and me to \u201cCome here. Quick! Come here!\u201d He was jumping up and down (literally) with such joy on his face that I was certain he\u2019d found a bug he\u2019d never seen before. (Or perhaps George, \u201chis\u201d praying mantis, had shown up again.)\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I approached where he stood, next to a small, bushy plant. He looked at the plant \u2014 a weed, by most standards \u2014 and with great excitement exclaimed, \u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a smallish plant with little yellow flowers scattered here and there. To him, it was\u00a0so beautiful<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, how lucky I\u2019d be if I could see the world through the eyes of a child. But wait! I did!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, how lucky I am!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cThank goodness for all of the things you are not!<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank goodness you are not something someone forgot,<\/span><\/p>\n

and left all alone in some punkerish place<\/span><\/p>\n

like a rusty tin coat hanger hanging in space.\u201d \u2014Dr. Seuss<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Column from Parkinson’s News Today.<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While my grandkids were here last week, we read books every night before bed. And, of course, each night at least one book had to be by\u00a0Dr. Seuss. The night before they left, we read \u201cDid I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?\u201c\u00a0 It starts out by offering some rather sound advice: \u201cWhen you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to get mad \u2026 you should do what I do! Just tell yourself, Duckie, you\u2019re really quite lucky! Some people are much more \u2026 oh ever so much more \u2026 oh, muchly much-much more unlucky than you!\u201d\u00a0 Of course, Dr. Seuss then spends the rest of the book expounding on all the different ways the reader is lucky as a ducky.\u00a0 Most people would agree that having been handed a diagnosis of\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s disease\u00a0is anything but lucky. In fact, it can be downright scary. Even so, there are things to be thankful for. Things that cause you to pause and say, \u201cI am so lucky\u201d or \u201cI am so blessed.\u201d Things that take your mind off the unknown. Things that give you\u00a0hope. Today, I fell I was puttering in my yard, trying to eradicate the wounded and the dead and replace them with the new. I stepped down on the shovel to finish digging the hole for a salvia plant, and I lost my balance.\u00a0 It seemed as if I was falling in slow motion.\u00a0 On the way down, all I could think of was hitting my head on one of the rocks that line the pathway. Some of them are sharp. I fell hard on my arm and then, with a rocking motion, came to a halt, my head never touching the ground. I waited a minute to assess the damage before trying to get up. No pain. No scratches. I was lucky. I was blessed. Given what could have been a terrible accident (considering the\u00a0DBS\u00a0wires tucked in my brain), I was indeed blessed.\u00a0 Life is so beautiful I went over to my grandson\u2019s house yesterday to help him and his mom weed their backyard. When we had finished, he began yelling for his mom and me to \u201cCome here. Quick! Come here!\u201d He was jumping up and down (literally) with such joy on his face that I was certain he\u2019d found a bug he\u2019d never seen before. (Or perhaps George, \u201chis\u201d praying mantis, had shown up again.)\u00a0 I approached where he stood, next to a small, bushy plant. He looked at the plant \u2014 a weed, by most standards \u2014 and with great excitement exclaimed, \u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful!\u201d It was a smallish plant with little yellow flowers scattered here and there. To him, it was\u00a0so beautiful. Oh, how lucky I\u2019d be if I could see the world through the eyes of a child. But wait! I did!\u00a0 Oh, how lucky I am!\u00a0 \u201cThank goodness for all of the things you are not! Thank goodness you are not something someone forgot, and left all alone in some punkerish place like a rusty tin coat hanger hanging in space.\u201d \u2014Dr. Seuss   Column […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[259,228,8],"tags":[292,290,254,232,288],"aioseo_notices":[],"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"Raven Hamilton","author_link":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/author\/ravenwpa\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Caregivers<\/a> Community Outreach<\/a> Life<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"While my grandkids were here last week, we read books every night before bed. And, of course, each night at least one book had to be by\u00a0Dr. Seuss. The night before they left, we read \u201cDid I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?\u201c\u00a0 It starts out by offering some rather sound advice: \u201cWhen you…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiparkinson.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}