In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to share 10 things that I am thankful for while living with Parkinson’s Disease.

10.   Getting by on little sleep gives us much more time to spend playing  games on our iPads in the middle of the night, while we are deluding ourselves into thinking that these games may actually help our brain cells regenerate.

9.  We can blame our Obsessive/Compulsive behaviors (see #10) on our medications and the non-Parkies will believe us.

8.  Waking up at 5:00 am doesn’t seem so early anymore.   But why am I always late to my 8:30 yoga class? (See #10.   Still playing those stupid games on my iPad)

7.  I can do things with my left hand now that I would not have been able to do if that damn tremor in my right hand didn’t act up when I am trying to do something like eating, writing, brushing my teeth……you fill in the blanks

6.  Living with PD has taught me to be more pro-active about my health.  I keep up with the latest research and always go to my doctor with a list of questions and concerns.

5.  All of the new friends that I have made who also have PD.  We can laugh and cry together about things that non-Parkies would never understand.

4.   Fortunately I have a slowly progressing form of PD, which is controlled by meds.  Better living through Chemistry is my mantra.

3.  Laughing with PD.  When all else fails, I can always blame stupid things I do on that !?@$#  tremor.

2.  Loving with PD means cherishing the life my husband and I have together and making adjustments as we need to when that @$#% Tremor gets in the way again.

1.  Living with PD has enabled me to reach out to others like you, hopefully making all of our lives just a little bit better