Meeting Old Friends On This New Journey

The road trip has been fun, but also very exhausting.  In the last 3 weeks we have logged 2300 miles and now we are onto our 12th hotel.  While we attempted to see the sights during day, we did much of our driving at night.  This did not leave a lot of time to stop and eat, so one of our meals each day usually consisted of Frito spirals or Bugles.  Both are very tasty, however they probably are not on any dietician’s suggested meal plan.  We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out.  The weather allowed us to enjoy our meal outside.  It felt very good to kick back and relax without worrying where we had to rush off to next.

When we started our blog, two friends Al and Robin reached out to us.  Al and Robin also face the challenge of living with Spinocerebellar Ataxia.  Colleen first met Al and Robin at the Ataxia support group in Downers Grove, IL some years back.  I later met them at this same group when I started attending meetings.  As it turns out they now live in a suburb of Phoenix only about 40 minutes from Mesa.  They invited us over for a visit when they heard we were going to be nearby.  It had been sometime since we saw them last.  We had a wonderful time catching up and discussing plans moving forward.  When we left, Colleen commented “It is so nice to be around people that get it”.  This is a very good point.  Although I help Colleen everyday and can see the challenges she faces, I do not know what it is like.    She takes things in stride because she is a more private person, but she too feels the tough emotions walking through each day.  I do believe it is very important to be around people that face similar challenges to offer support.  I certainly know this is the case for me.  We are able to identify with each other through our own specific challenge and share our experience.  Through sharing our experience we are able to offer each other hope in how to live a relatively joyous life despite our circumstances.

During the conversation they asked if we planned on attending the National Ataxia Foundation conference in Las Vegas in March.  At the time we did not have plans to attend, however a few weeks later Colleen decided she wanted to go.  Vegas here we come!