Lemonade for Linda

Some of you are very familiar with our story, but we wanted to share a brief timeline for those who don't know our why!   Amanda and I are sisters. Our mom Linda was diagnosed with MS in 1995.  I remember the very moment she was told, and she basically shrugged her shoulders and said OKAY.  Which was the way mom lived her entire life, with one of her famous saying "it could always be worse".  Life resumed as "normal" until it was no longer normal.  Dad was mom's caregiver and like mom, handled it like a champ.  Dad as a poker player would tell us "This is the hand we have been dealt so we will play with these cards and make the best of it" and that is what we did!!! Over the years mom began to experience more and more symptoms which lead her to retirement around 8 years after being diagnosed.  Mom was a nurse so sitting still was a big change for her, but again she didn't complain and just dealt with it.  Dad continued working and caring for ...

This is the last photo I have of mom.  Thanks to COVID the last 6 months of mom's life was spent separated, BRC had a parade where we were able to drive by and say Hi.  This picture is one of my favorites because if you knew mom she would have been ticked with her outfit.  So, every time I see this I smile inside!!    Optic Neuritis! This is the symptom that mom first experienced which led to her MS diagnosis.  Mom started saying that in her vision she kept seeing "black dots".  After several opinions she was told it was 1 of three things.  Brain tumor, Aneurysm or MS!  She was sent for an MRI which revealed the lesions on her brain confirming she had MS.  As a teenager I thought MS was the best diagnosis, mostly because I didn't know anything about it.  So, I looked it up in the dictionary (because that was the only resource I had at that time) I don't remember  the exact definition, but it was similar to this: ...