But on the bright side, having ALS will get you out of a LOT.

The intent was to do a couple of these a week.  Still is.  But when you have a pretty nasty chronic health condition, it's quite simple to rationalize NOT doing something.  Not 'feeling like it' carries more weight than when y'all >ahem< normal folks say it; sorry.  I try not to play that card too often but I also find myself not attempting near as much either.  Besides generally feeling poorly, ALS has turned me old & frail decades prematurely & I've started viewing the world as a 93-year-old might. 

It's scary out there--all moving & hard, uneven & pointy.  A simple Target parking lot now looks like the Appalachian Trail to me, full of dangerous terrain & deadly wildlife.  My balance is just about shot so that every step has to actually be thought about.  A crack or uneven place in the pavement can be as disastrous as a rockslide or bear attack out in the wild.  Well, maybe not a BEAR attack...big raccoon, at least.  And fellow humans abound!  A bump will knock me right down (it's happened) & I'm painfully aware nowadays of just how harsh & unforgiving a bitch concrete is.

Even home, I find myself disliking our hardwood floor & craving carpeting.  What foolhardy daredevil chose a stone tile bathroom floor or granite kitchen countertops?  Some YOUNG whippersnapper, betcha, what drives too speedy & stays out too late is who.  Durn kids.  Now...where was I?  Yeah, the world's not worth it, I don't feel good & I'm staying in bed.

My wife, the charming Dr. Janet Austin, has had health issues her whole life, starting with rheumatoid arthritis in her teens.  She came off disability, worked her butt off, got her PhD.  She advanced in her health education career, taking us to Atlanta, then D.C.  She had complications...kept working.  Heart attack...went back to her job.  Until a hip replacement--& my health--sent us back to Birmingham & family, she would not be sidelined.  And after a good rest, Jan's ambitions are in bloom once more.  She's got big plans, a website (http://drjanetaustin3.moonfruit.com/), and is traveling the country again, doing things that matter.  Last week, she fell on a Denver Airport escalator &, when I heard, I could FEEL it.  That panic of tipping over, the pain of impact, the tearing of those horribly-designed steel teeth, that after-dread that this might be serious.  Luckily, it wasn't; the girl's got her angels, seems.  She's off again tomorrow, a week back in Washington, to work & visit friends & godsons.

So, y'know....guess I can write a blog.