2023

 2023 was a sad year. It was a lot for Rich to cope with. The anxieties that come along with Parkinson’s are difficult to cope with. Sometimes his days feel so dark. It was a year that we lost two close members of our family. First Rich’s brother passed away, then our brother-in-law, his sister’s husband five months later. Both victims to cancer. Two of the loveliest men ever. In amongst the sorrow though, days within losing Rich’s brother, we welcomed our 5th grandaughter into our family. 

That, I suppose, is life!! 

It was a year where we had to digest and process that how we envisioned our retirement wasn’t going to be. Rich had planned to semi retire, still working a couple of days a week. He wasn’t ready to fully retire. That wasn’t to be though. He was unable to work. His confidence was gone, and he felt very tired. Up to his diagnosis, his mobility was poor. We were very concerned. We’d been told that his problems were pointing towards a mental health disorder, and in a way, we were hoping it was. We both stuck our heads in the sand, not wanting a Parkinson’s diagnosis. The thought of that was frightening. Once diagnosed though, it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong. We didn’t want this diagnosis, but when Rich lost his mobility, we were actually relieved to know what was going on, and, although we know there’s no cure, meds have given him back his mobility and a decent doable life. 

Along with little Olivia entering our lives in July of that year, another highlight, that took some of the sad sting out of 2023, was that in May of that year, Rich was able to walk his youngest daughter down the isle. Something at the beginning of that year, we didn’t think he was going to be able to do 😊