Johnny!!
Hold up there buddy!! I don't think your future includes being spoon-fed in a wheelchair in some decrepit nursing home run by the nurse from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"!! I know I too am A) not married or in a relationship, B) don't see one coming anytime soon, C) worry about disability, pain, becoming immobile....but although we can imagine our future, we don't know it, we can only plan for it. And yes, with AS some things in life will change and already have....I may never ski again, for example, or charge through western forests on horseback. And maybe I'll still be alone in the sense of no woman in my life five years from now.....but man!!! Five years??? So much can happen!!! Yes, I could need a cane to help me walk, or maybe the NSD and new drugs will have me hiking up mountains....but if I need that cane, it's gonna be sweet!! Silver and wood, maybe turqoise with some Tolkien runes, and a secret compartment...yeah, baby!! See, there's always an upside, and you're in a moment....Bono sang on U2's recent album, "it's just a moment, this time will pass"....and your's will too, Johnny!! Man, I just saw an infomercial the other night for these high tech electric wheelchairs for seniors...one that my dad may need in upcoming years....if I had to, I'd get one, only find one that rivaled the Mach 5 and could go off-road!! Don't think they make them yet, but I could suggest it to the company!!
See, never assume what you're future will hold when you're in a moment of major AS pain while trying to install a new starter in your truck....you're mom is your rock right now, and yes, someday she'll be gone, but that does not leave you helpless, for you are a competant individual. Here's a quick story-- my dad just lost his uncle Fred, age 95. Fred's son, my dad's cousin Phillip, lived with Fred his whole life....Phillip is in his sixties, having never married....worked for the phone company, had AS but is not bent over, despite having to eat 20 Advil a day for years....now, Phillip is George McFly, the dad from "Back to the Future" in a major way....and yet, around the time that Fred was getting ill and passing on, Phillip meets a woman, and now they are seeing each other steadily, and may live together or marry....so, you never know how things will change!! You could meet someone anytime now who could change your life, so just hang in there in those moments of doubt and pain!!!
Peace
Linc
Linc O'Brien
