The Greatest Gift

The Greatest Gift

Having Multiple Sclerosis can be extremely difficult, but it is possible to grow in a positive way because you have this disease.  I tell my children, everyone has something.  If they don't, they will by the end of their lives.  I have MS.  They have Asperger's and AD/HD.  In a way, they are fortunate.  They know what their "something" is at an early age and can deal with it.
My disability often makes me laugh. When I lived in my first home, I had trouble climbing the stairs and had to crawl up them. One day, I was making my way up the stairs and I felt something on my back. My young son was crawling over me. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Well, I couldn't get by you," he explained. "So I went over!" Makes sense to me.
After seventeen years, I now use hand controls on my vehicle. I'm actually very good with them and that is fortunate. People don't realize that I am using my hands to drive. Pedestrians dart right out in front of me. Sometimes, I feel like I should have one of those pizza delivery signs on top of my car. This one will say, "DANGER! DANGER!"
The other day, I was having trouble walking into the theater where my daughter was performing with her choir. As I inched my way through the snow, a man ran up behind me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and the other under my elbow. "You look like you need a lift," he quipped. Before I could even answer him, he picked me up and zoomed across the street to the concert door. He and his wife then zipped into the auditorium as I called after him, "Thank you!!!" In earlier years, when I didn't have MS, I would have been rather insulted by such a gesture. Today, I'm just grateful.
Because of my MS, my left hand won't work and I can't play the piano. I could be very bitter, but I am not. Instead, I have discovered writing. I type with my right hand and one finger with my left. I'm the fastest six-fingered typist you would ever meet.
I wouldn't consider the MS a gift, but what I have learned as a result is. Most importantly, having MS has changed me as a person. I believe that I am more compassionate and understanding. I make a great effort to never judge others. Every day I repeat, "Therefore, but by the grace of God go I." It means—that could be me. I could have a problem with alcoholism. I could have a mentally-impaired child. I could be homeless. In this case, it is me. I have a chronic disease.
If you think having MS will change your life, you are correct. But it doesn't have to be all bad. When you take a different path in the woods, it leads you to other paths that you couldn't have found any other way. I know, you didn't choose this path. But you are on it. The interesting thing now is to see where it leads you. What will you experience that you would never have experienced before? Who will you meet? What will you accomplish.
Your life may look differently than the one you envisioned for yourself, but it could also end up to be more beautiful than you ever imagined. Instead of being angry that you must use a cane, use it to "hook" your son and pull him to you for a hug. Everyone's "something " might be the greatest gift they will ever receive.

Beth Praed (formerly Beth Hill)
"Multiple Sclerosis: Q&A", "The AD/HD Book" and "My Freedom from Abuse"
Amazon's author page—https://www.amazon.com/author/bethpraed

Submitted by Anonymous

Overcoming