My Inspiration

It is 2 a.m., December 27th, our anniversary, and surprise, surprise, I am still awake. Sleep very often alludes me, and tonight is one of those nights, but as I sit here, looking back on our journey, I am overwhelmed with just how blessed a man I am.

How will I choose to view this?

Today is the day. It is a day of closure, and a day of new beginnings. It is a day, that in some ways, I have dreaded for the past 2 months. Once again, this new journey I am on has intersected with my hopes, my plans, my dreams, and my future, and it has dictated a decision. Today, I must say goodbye to one more thing.

When God Deconstructs Me

Who am I? How do I define myself? What do I tell others about me? We all have an image of ourselves. We all find our identity in certain things, but what do you do when that changes? What do you do when who you are no longer who you are? What do you do when something happens that radically changes the person you are - the things you found your identity in - welcome to my world with Parkinson's.

“If it wasn’t for bad luck…”

“…I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” As if my life had not been shaken up enough (that’s a joke), I decided to end the day with a bang. Lying in the hospital bed, my mom sitting beside me, she says the above song title, and it clicked – yes, that is exactly what it feels like. Maybe that should be my new theme song?

Hustle and Bustle - From Charles' New Book "What Christmas Really Is All About" - Available now at Amazon

“Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:1 

Christmas is a wonderful time of year – but it is also very hectic. On top of the normal busy schedule that everyone seems to keep these days, more is added in the months around this holiday. People pack event after event into an already overcrowded and bursting schedule. Christmas “requires” so much. As people rush from thing to thing, they become stressed, frazzled, and overwhelmed. 

What does not kill you...Really, another kidney stone!

What does not kill us, makes us stronger! Boy I have heard that so many times, I even kind of like the 
song. But as I lay here, trying to pass the 4th kidney stone in 4 weeks, I wonder, do I really want to live through this. Not sure I will make it into that second category, and dealing with this pain, I am not sure I want to LOL. 

Why exactly am I in the woods?

I am not a camper, and I am a far cry from an outdoorsman. Don’t get me wrong, I like being outside, but I also like coming in from the outside. What in the world is a person like me, with all my health issues, doing living the “outdoor life”?

I do not usually “rough it”, yet here I lay, at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn), in a tent filled with people, listening to my dogs whine at the birds that have started chirping - how did I get here?