HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

Actually, in my last post, I let on how I met Mary. I just thought it was a catchy title. It's what happened after I met her that is the real story....
Mary and I hit it off pretty well. She was more , no, much more mature than many women twice her age, she is intelligent, well read and very smart. She can carry a conversation on almost any subject and we had a good time on our first few dates. She says she knew she wanted to marry me pretty quick. I took my time being skeptical and stubborn. The first time I met her Dad was by accident, I was dropping her off and he was stopping by. I knew he would have a hard time accepting the 22 yr age difference and he would barely speak to me. Looking back, had I been him I don't think I would have been able to keep from kicking my butt ! These days he says he loves me to death but I watch my back around the guy ( only kidding Mike !!! ) . Seriously, he is a great guy that I respect for how he has accepted me. After all, he is only three years older than me !
Anyway, my oldest brother had just been diagnosed with PD when Mary and I met and I told her I thought I had it too. She said she could handle that if I did have PD later on in life. At the time, neither of us knew as much about PD as we do now and obviously I had it then just had not been diagnosed.
We dated, she kept me at arms length with her then 4 year old son and looking back, that was wise. When we really got serious, we talked about more kids and for many reasons , determined that we would not have more children if we later got married. SOOOOO, I got snipped and put that little issue to rest.
This is where the age difference really comes into play along with a womans propensity to change her mind on any subject....
Fast forward, we eloped sort of to Vegas ( a whold nuther story) been married about a year when she pops up and says she wants us to have a baby!!!
Needless to say I was floored, after all , I had been "fixed" ...again, in the interest of time and in response to the difficulty I now have typing I will fast forward.....
After raising $6 grand in cash, with the aid of some very skilled surgeons at UVA , I got reconnected and pretty quick little Rielly-Anne Abigail was on her journey into our family.
She was born on 30 Nov. 2006 and boy is she beautiful, smart and loving.
However, just before she was born I finally visited with a Neurologist who told me I had PD and life changed quite a bit after that.
Next chat, I will try to tell you about how we knew it was time for me to see the Neurologist and what all this has been like....

Starting Over

After two ex wives, one son and a couple of long term relationships I realized I had been single for nearly 15 years and had learned to be pretty happy that way. I had a decent job making above average income. Over my career in sales and project management I had managed to visit most of the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, Switzerland, Venezuela many of them more than once. After my last long term relationship ended I decided that I wanted a part time job to occupy my free time...something unusual and totally different. Well, I ended up working in one of the biggest nightclubs on the east coast as a "bouncer". Yes, size does matter ! At six foot and 240 pounds with the right clothes and attitude I am able to intimidate small childred and most drunken adults.
To say this time was interesting and fun would be an understatement and I doubt you will ever see all the stories I can tell here on this blog.
At this time I had quite a rep for lovin and leavin em.....I was at a great age for meeting divorced women whose kids were grown like mine and were free to play.
And then this girl named Mary came to work as a waitress in the restaurant side of the club.
I didn't think anything about it, I gave her a few pieces of advice on how to work the system when she substituted in the coat room...we chatted a few times. Nothing unusual, she was younger but at the time I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have...you'll understand as you read further.
One night, I subbed as a bartender during the night and she was the waitstaff....we hung around at the bar and never had the first customer on that Wednesday night. On a whim and trying to be "cool" I put on entirely too much cologne on a not so disguised trip to my car and in the end we went out for dinner after we closed the club at 10 PM.
She was 23 and I was 45 at that time.....Only later , much later did it dawn on me just how much of a gap that could be and what it would mean for the future of our family......

CATCHING YOU UP

Now that all of the start up junk is handled, this is my opportunity to tell you a little bit about the past ....
If you couldn't tell from the picture at the top of my blog, I am and always have been a little bit of a gearhead. That IS me in the drivers seat and YES I still have this machine although at the moment shall we say I am between motors ? But I am sure I will write more on this subject later....
Not to go back so far, but I am the third in a string of four boys, born in 1955, lived in Virginia all my life. Married to my third wife and between us we have three children. I have a grown son, 24 years old and he is the very best....more on him later too. Then there is my stepson, 11 and he is a great kid as well. I am enjoying watching him grow up. And last, there is little Rielly-Anne who at just over a year old has brought me untold wonder and happiness so late in life by most peoples standards that I can't even tell you how happy I am to have made the choice to have another child !
It took me most of my life to find what I believe to be the happiest part of my life and part of my struggle now is feeling as if I can't fully enjoy it now. But still , I have so much to be happy about !

At times, my sweetie has blogged (nagged) that I am in denial about PD or not serious about fighting it but really, I just want to enjoy the time I have left (whatever that is ) and I have seen first hand that PD plays no favorites, gives no quarter and responds to very little, so it's not that I am lazy or unconcerned , but I want to really enjoy myself from here on out. But I digress.....

My grown son's mother and I have remained friendly over the years, married for ten years, divorced for around 15 now, she is a good friend to me and oddly enough to my wife. She is like an aunt to our new little girl and I wouldn't change this for the world.

Now that you know most of the characters , we can get on with the show....

AN INTRODUCTION

WOW !
My very own blog....a place to tell my story, my way and respond to my wife's blog dealing with our journey into life with Parkinsons.
First a few housekeeping items...Thanks are in order to my sweetie for having the patience to help me set this thing up ! Also, for always supporting and encouraging me ( read that "nag the hell out of me" ) in dealing with this disease.
Second - I promise to be honest and open about everything I write here and I will hope not to bore you although unlike my wife, who jumped into the middle of our story, I want to start writing about life before PD first. Like I said, my story, my way...
And lastly, I want to have fun with this and along the way entertain some of you with the give and take of sometimes responding to what my wife's blog contains and I hope to make a few new friends in the process.
There now, my first post is done. On to the story......