Scary Dreams & Old men

I am sitting in an easy chair in the waiting area of a hospital, waiting (obviously) for my wife. Her appointment is going to take 2 hours. I take out my crossword puzzle (which I do to prove to myself that I am not "slipping") and within a couple of words, I drift off. After a few minutes (I think) I begin to dream and in my dream I am sitting in the same easy chair, but this time, I am in my underwear and people are starting to stare. I awake with a typical PD jerk - arms flying straight out. The elderly lady walking by was quite startled. I tried to explain "Had dream ...silly", but she was already going on her way in a manner to convince herself and any others in the audience that she neither saw nor heard me.

A typical PD dream, ultra real, with a physical reaction.

Not my fault.

You see, Parkinson's was on my mind as I had visited with a good friend who discovered in the last year or two, that he also had fallen into the embrace of our dark passenger. We ate breakfast, commiserating with each other as we told and retold our difficulties with PD. We differed only in the fact that I had the tremor dominant type of PD. He had the non-tremor. My symptoms are controlled by the drugs. His situation still presents as a painful back and a prominent limp in spite of the drugs.

"Which is better?", you might ask.

I don't know that anyone has a definitive answer to that query. I like to think tremor dominant is better but I realized we were very similar when we each had to slide to the end of our seats with some difficulty (we were in a booth) and then struggle to stand and walk stiffly to the cashier. No superiority there. We are in the same shape, tremor or not.

Later that day, I saw a poster of a camel walking through the desert with sand drifts well above its head. The poster said something to the effect that all our dreams can come true if we only have the courage to pursue them.

I don't think I will be pursuing mine any time soon. Go ahead and laugh, but the picture of an old man (me) wearing only underwear, in a crowded deli, and fighting to get up from his seat.....Heck, that scares the poop out of me. Too scary to have the courage to pursue such an image.

You can summon the courage to pursue your dreams, but as for me, I plan to stay awake as much as is humanly possible.