How getting Multiple Sclerosis has ended up being a good thing

      MS has been one of the best things that happened to me. No really.

I spent most of my life taking care of other people. I worked in nursing homes, foster care homes for the elderly, and people with disabilities and it became my passion. But I worked long hours. I worked twenty years helping people with disabilities live alone in their own apartments, I was an outreach worker helping them with a myriad of tasks, shopping, banking, advocacy, problem-solving, crisis intervention. I was on call for five days a week and it was very stressful. There were days I worked 16 hours a day coming home and working well into the night to get my paperwork done, write care plans, and plan for my staff meeting where I supervised three assistants. 

So it was ironic when I got MS and I was forced to retire at the age of 53. It allowed me to stop taking care of everyone and to focus on my health. I slowed down, enjoyed my gardens and potted plants, cooked by scratch, enjoyed more time with my boyfriend and my new life because I was around home more often

Well, one day when cleaning out my closets I found my journals from when I first moved to Oregon when I worked in the Wallowa Mountains doing timber inventory, living in my tent, working in Wilderness areas. Well, as I sat there reading and chuckling, I thought this would make a good book and I started writing and produced three books that are in Rhe Eve Chronicles by Diane DeVillers, If I wouldn't have gotten MS I never would have had the time to write my books. Check out my author page at amazon.com  The biggest shift in my life was realizing that toxic emotions, people with toxic emotions were people I couldn't have in my life anymore, they made me physically ill, draining all my energy. So I started taking care of me, I joke' It's all about me!! and that was the biggest thing I had to learn, with MS if I do too much or get too hot it sets me back

I have the Progressive MS and in ten yrs haven't gotten worse, I have a half-paralyzed leg and wear a brace to keep my foot from dropping down and tripping me, I have severe back pain from pulling that leg around when walking, and the fatigue that people with MS well know.

The best thing for me is I'm into exercise, twice a day I ride my inside bike for nearly an hour and twice a week I swim laps for an hour. I swear that I feel better mentally and physically and I think the exercise is keeping my half-paralyzed leg keep from atrophy.

So although the fatigue gets me I have to save my energy to last all day it's like I have a bucket of water which is my energy and every task I do it's like taking a ladle full of water out, so I have enough energy to last all day I see my bucket getting empty as the day goes along. If I don't pay attention to it I pay by having to lay in bed the next day. 

I also produced my CD named Camas Swale, check it out on Bandcamp or Tindeck. Although I can only play about four or five songs before my back pain makes me sit and rest awhile. 

My yard is my pride and joy, my lush flower gardens are brimming with fern, hosta's, calla lilies. I have two porches full of big pots filled with salvia, marigold, lavender, heather, basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and Lily of the Nile, I have a raised bed garden where I grow everything to make my homemade salsa onions, tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce and spinach for our salads.

I have to pace myself, working a half-hour at a time before I have to lay down and stop my back pains. Then it's up again for another short spurt of energy.

 MS has been very good to me.

Who knows what the future will be but I'm fine with it

https://dianedevillers.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/father-at-86-and-daughter-at-63-both-publish-books/
My father and I published our books, books that are very different in subject matter, his is a historical novel about the Korean and Afghanistan War, highly researched and reads like  Tom Clancy novel.
"The Stone Horse & Droshki" by Ken De Villers is also a story of enduring love. It's an adventure historical novel, the memoirs of Colonel General Yuri Danilov, the son of an American Sioux Indian and a Ukrainian Mother. Master spy for the Soviet KGB. Top Gun fighter pilot in the Korean, Vietnam and the Soviet Afghanistan wars. Privy to the internal workings of the Soviet Union’s Politburo. Also a story of love and devotion between Yuri and the beautiful Japanese-Russian Eiko Haraoka.
My book is called "The Eve Chronicles" by Diane DeVillers:
The paperback book is three novellas, inspired by the author's own journals about her relationships, life, and work in the forests of Oregon, comprise The Eve Chronicles.
The first book is called “From the Waters of Coyote Springs”: Eve searches for meaning to her life while working in the forest of the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. Living in her tent she spends the day doing timber inventory for the Forest Service. Five other mismatched foresters live in the camp with her.
Felix and Eve: Felix hires Eve; he’s a cantankerous elderly man who needs round-the-clock nursing care. She’s a live-in-the-moment type of person. Once Felix accepts her, he tells of his relationship with the notorious gangster, Al Capone in Chicago during the 1930s.
The Arrangement: Each year under a special arrangement Eve spends the summer on Catalina Island with Sid, a retired college Professor and Eve's former lover, who has a debilitating type of Multiple Sclerosis. An irony is that the author, having left the forests to work with people as a caregiver, was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This afforded her the opportunity to retire early and focus on writing.
The three eBooks are available at Smashwords.com or Amazon.com or any other site that sells eBooks. The paperback book is available on Amazon and books stores that can access the Ingram Catalog.

Another Way to Look at Life and Death

The Egg

By: Andy Weir

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

 “Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”

“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way.

Father and Daughter both publish books

1 COMMENT

My father and I published our books, books that are very different in subject matter, his is a historical novel about the Korean and Afghanistan War, highly researched and reads like  Tom Clancy novel.

“The Stone Horse & Droshki” by Ken De Villers is also a story of enduring love. It’s an adventure historical novel, the memoirs of Colonel General Yuri Danilov, the son of an American Sioux Indian and a Ukrainian Mother. Master spy for the Soviet KGB. Top Gun fighter pilot in the Korean, Vietnam and the Soviet Afghanistan wars. Privy to the internal workings of the Soviet Union’s Politburo. Also a story of love and devotion between Yuri and the beautiful Japanese-Russian Eiko Haraoka.

My book is called “The Eve Chronicles” by Diane DeVillers:

The paperback book is three novellas, inspired by the author’s own journals about her relationships, life, and work in the forests of Oregon, comprise The Eve Chronicles.

The first book is called “From the Waters of Coyote Springs”: Eve searches for meaning to her life while working in the forest of the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. Living in her tent she spends the day doing timber inventory for the Forest Service. Five other mismatched foresters live in the camp with her.

Felix and Eve: Felix hires Eve; he’s a cantankerous elderly man who needs round-the-clock nursing care. She’s a live-in-the-moment type of person. Once Felix accepts her, he tells of his relationship with the notorious gangster, Al Capone in Chicago during the 1930s.

The Arrangement: Each year under a special arrangement Eve spends the summer on Catalina Island with Sid, a retired college Professor and Eve’s former lover, who has a debilitating type of Multiple Sclerosis. An irony is that the author, having left the forests to work with people as a caregiver, was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This afforded her the opportunity to retire early and focus on writing.

The three eBooks are available at Smashwords.com or Amazon.com or any other site that sells eBooks. The paperback book is available on Amazon and books stores that can access the Ingram Catalog.

 

What American women and girls lost when Hillary Clinton did not become our first woman President

https://www.worldpulse.com/community/users/girlpower/posts/93525 I nominated Hillary Clinton for the international woman's site Worldpulse's #SpiritAward. What every woman and girl has lost by Hillary not becoming our first woman President.

Medicine Woman by RIsing Appalachia

Medicine Woman by Rising Appalachia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czkHmjrFCnM

Medicine Wise men say that rushing is violence and so is your silence when its rooted in compliance To stand firm in loving defiance, make art your alliance give voice to the fire Move people to the beat of the wind Gather yourself and begin to dance the song until it ends We are winners, champions of the light forming in numbers and might keep the truth close insight… Chorus: Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands

Find your teachers in the voice of the forests unplug you can't ignore this wisdom of the voiceless Remedies are bountiful and surround us from the garden to the farthest prayers made of stardust Find your healing in the music that calls you the voice that enthralls you what do you belong to Eyes out there’s the setting of the sun give thanks to each and every one the lesson is the…Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace I know your face, and I trust your hand Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hand

Poem: I believe in bending backward and extending in my tracks trip back until the lesson is in action and your yard is feeding stop stark the disbelieving cause the garden holds the shards the medicine is in the seeds when We hold tight to our right to protect and we know our might is 10-fold in connection our elders hold them bright lights we protect them the medicine is evident the wolf, the hawk, the bear clan We hold tight to our right to protect and we know our might is 10-fold in connection our elders hold them bright lights we protect them the medicine is evident the wolf, the hawk, the bear clan… Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands Medicine Woman, Medicine Man Walking with grace, I know your face, and I trust your hands

Women better vote for reproductive rights

A person can be pro-life and still give others the freedom to make their own choices. Most states passed these laws were all old white dudes who could never find themselves in this situation. Roe vs Wade is a constitutional right, don't' let them dilute it. Prez Trump said, "Women should be punished" but when asked about the men who got them pregnant. he said nothing. When Kavanaugh was elected to Supreme Court he said he would uphold Roe vs Wade, we don't believe he will. One in three women has chosen to have an abortion they just don't tell you. #YouKnowMe we are your daughters, your nieces, your aunts and mothers and grandmothers, We are your sisters, we are your next door neighbor. They just don't tell you about it. Keep reproductive rights between the family and the doctor. If a Dr performs an abortion he could get 99 years in jail, and if a rapist gets acquitted the woman could go to jail. In Alabama, they won't allow someone raped or incest to end the pregnancy. It's about wanting to control women, old white dudes in government should stay out of a woman's uterus. It's a war on women and we won't go back to back-alley abortions. If you voted for Trump, (older white women) you better vote for anyone else other than him. He's stacking hundreds of alt-right appellate judges and doing the same thing in our Supreme Court. Women, it's up to you who gets in the White House next, why not kick the racist, misogynist, hater to the curb. This is just another reason to vote him out. When women warned about Kavanaugh getting in, they called us hysterical. Well, get ready for the feminist revolution, and to men, either get a vasectomy or don't have sex with us. It puts women in a no-win situation when they try to defund Planned Parenthood, so women can't get birth control, and then if we get pregnant our choices are at risk. With 7 Billion people in the world, they defund Planned Parenthood International. So women in third world countries with five children who are underfed, are forced to have a child. And if life starts at conception then child support should start then. Women should get their day after pill and insist the men wear rubbers or not give it away. Women have to unite on this, think about your 12 yr old daughter who if she gets pregnant and wants an abortion, the state would force her to have the child. Don't take away women's choice, 78 percent of American's want women to have the choice. If you don't want an abortion don't have one, but don't take our rights away. Those same pro-lifers should be more concerned about children who are already alive and living in poverty, or the children in cages in El Paso, or grown men that go to war and die, why don't they try to ban wars. Millennials it will be up to you to vote for progressive candidates, it's time your generation take over. The more old white dudes that lose their elections the better. Don't get me going.