This is a blog about Mom and it’s also a blog about me. It’s about dealing with Mom’s MS but it’s about me dealing with Mom’s MS. Because of this you have to know a little about me. I have to share what’s going on in my life so you know where my head is at when things happen. Obviously when life is skipping by blissfully I am more equipped to handle Mom’s MS symptoms. When life is giving me nonstop lemons I have a shorter fuse for how I deal Mom’s MS.

Right now is tough because Husband is looking for jobs. He is a grad student getting his MBA and looking for jobs. It is competitive. He works so hard and it doesn’t seem to matter. It is just a tough job environment right now and he has been dealt a lot of rejections. The point though is I am down. It’s a lot to be dealing with for both of us. Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary and we had a wonderful dinner celebrating. Then I woke up this morning and felt like my 24 hour break from reality was over.

What’s interesting though is how much the importance of Mom’s MS has shifted in my mind as I deal with all of this. I call her, I tell her what’s going on and I don’t ask one thing about how she is feeling. But at the same time the MS is still very much there based on the comments she makes that are now very normal within conversation. Comments such as: “hold on a second, walking to the table and can’t walk and talk with the walker;” “trying to reach for an ingredient to make a brisket but Sister K rearranged everything in the pantry and now the items I need are high up and I can’t reach them;” “hold on had to let the dogs in and try not to fall geting the door open and bribing with treats.” All of these are little comments that have undertones of Mom’s MS sprinkled throughout. They are comments that in the past may have made me sad as I interpreted them to all signal a digression in Mom because of MS.

I think the point to all of this is there was a time when I thought I’d never be able to absorb all of this into my life and let everything intertwine naturally. But now I believe it has in many ways. Normal conversation with these sorts of comments mixed in doesn’t bother me, it’s just natural. Mom having a walker, that’s normal now too. It’s a new normal.

At the end of the conversation Mom said “hang in there, I love you” before she hung up. It meant a lot. Not sure why. In may ways it made me think of how I am dealing with Mom’s MS- I am hanging in there and I am handling it all better. So in thinking about this I am giving myself a pep talk too- hang in there with life and eventually things will turn around too.

How do you get through moments when it seems like you just can’t win in life? What are your magic words of support to give to others- is “hang in there” ever used? It’s a beautiful day where I am sitting or I should say sitting looking outside…how is your weather transitioning into fall?