Parkinson's: Finding Your Community

A Journey into Parkinson's with Nancy Mellon 

Coordinated by Corrine Bayraktaroglu

Yellow Springs is known for it's strong sense of community.  I fell in love with my village because of it's community. First I found and fell in love with it's Artist Community. I walked out my door and met artists of all kinds.

There are communities within the greater community- Antioch College has a community, (which we joined when my son graduated from there.)  Glen Helen, our 100 acres woods,  has a community, (and everyone who walks it joins that community!) The Antioch school, where my grand daughters now go has a strong community (it celebrates it's 100^th year this year) and on and on.  Over the years, I have had the pleasure of becoming part of many communities within our community. What does community mean to me?  It is a place where you have made memories together. You have experienced each others moments of triumph and woe. You have extended a hand to comfort and been comforted. It is a wonderful space to live in.

 Which brings me to the Parkinson's Community.  I have heard people say that they don't want to join a support group for Parkinson's because they are afraid of what they might see-their future. 

They are afraid of what might come next. I think we are all afraid of what might come next.

I have been reading a book called “The Places That Scare You “ A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun. She has so many things to say that I am finding important.  Last night while reading, I found where she talks about taking refuge in...and I thought of the Parkinson's community.  How we can take refuge in being a part of it.

This is a vibrant community. There is so much to do, so much laughter and helping hands extended for us to tap into. There are things to do for others, questions to ask each other and answers to be given, things to do for the Parkinson's Community, plans for events online and in person, fundraising for research and fun times together. It's a great community, join it as a person with Parkinson's or a friend.

 No one knows what comes next.  And when we are scared it is good to have others who have traveled the same path.

 When my mom discovered she had Parkinson's she did not reach out to the Parkinson's Community. (I don't really know if there was much of a community available at the time. I also think it was something that you didn't talk about.) She had a home she loved, in a town she cared for greatly, a job she loved (first woman editor of the town paper!) that she retired from, at least 2  friends still alive, and a family that didn't live near by anymore, but kept in contact. It was not enough.

I wish she could have had a community of people with Parkinson's- that she could have spent time with, and learned from, been comforted by and gave comfort to.  These days, her online community could travel with her, as she moved to come live with me and my family in California. For her, they were all losses- of her home, friends, town and reasons for living.

Pema Chodron also said: “Look ahead to the rest  of your life and ask yourself what you want it to add up to.

Last night my answer was “A whole lot of loving, and creating and friends.

May we all live in community.

Cheers,

Nancy & the Snark

Footnotes From Corrine

As much as I enjoy Arizona I am not part of any community, not an art one or a village type one.  It's very odd to me having enjoyed such a rich community in Yellow Springs to find myself in a creative desert and a friendless one. Thank goodness I keep busy with grandchildren, being a coffee shop bum, reading, hiking and art because I'd be very homesick.