and because I still can

     Two weeks from today I will be heading back home to south-central Kansas in order to participate in the ALS walk that is held each year along the Waterfront in Wichita.  It will be the third time that I've been able to go and I'm looking forward to being back with family and friends for the morning.  Those who come to the walk do so in order to honor family members that have been affected by the ravages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease.  I lost my brother, Mike Scott, to it in the fall of 2007.  My cousin, Forrest Ewy, succumbed to the very same disease a couple of years before my brother died.
   
     Any disease is horrible, especially when it is happening to you or your loved ones.  When they say "ALS sucks", they really mean it.

     I'm nearing my 60th birthday in just about 7 weeks more.  My brother died when he was 62 and as I near the age that Mike was when he left us, it surely gives me lots of time to pause and reflect on life and its fragility.  Back in August of 2014, I came up with a list of 60 things that I wanted to try and do before I turned 60 this year.  Although I've accomplished several of them, there remain many that will be impossible to do this time but that's ok.  It doesn't matter.  The important ones I got to do and the rest will find their place on a different list of things to accomplish.  There is one though, #37 in fact, that I am finally working on.

     "Stay healthy."

     You know, I used to think that taking a nap when you found yourself plain old worn out and tired was a waste of time.  I don't think that way any longer.  Even though I do get up in the morning rather early by most normal standards, I try my best to make my way to bed somewhere around the 9:00 in the evening hour.  For the past few weeks I've done a way better job in being aware of what kind of food I was putting into my mouth and asking myself if I really did need a second helping of anything.  I continue to write as much as possible because I know that banging out my thoughts on the computer keyboard is my best bet in fighting depression and anxiety, both of which have had their hold on me throughout my adult life.  I've got a long ways to go before I feel comfortable in saying that I'm as "healthy as a horse" but that doesn't matter.  What matters is the "trying to get there" in the first place.

     September 19, 2015~
     I am walking for my brother and in memory of all those who have passed away from ALS and if anyone would ask me why I'm doing it, the answer would be so very simple.

     Because thank the good Lord above, I still can.

     See you in Wichita!

                       Team "Mike Scott" after our first ALS walk in September of 2010.

     

To learn more about the disease of ALS, please check out the following website.

                                                www.every90minutes. org