From Where I Stand
— Erin Paterson

My husband and I were driving along a country road with no destination in mind. We needed to escape the city and our lives for the day. We drove past fields of tall, golden…

As I walked down the street to get my afternoon coffee one day, it appeared as if everything was normal. Unfortunately, everything was not. I crossed the same streets I normally do, walked past…

I wasn’t expecting to be brought to tears when I heard motivational speaker Lisa Nichols address a crowd at the Archangel Summit in Toronto last year. Nichols strode onto…

I walked through the door of my condo at 9 p.m., kicked off my running shoes, and dropped my gym bag on the floor. Crap, he’s not back yet, I thought to myself. I…

During the holidays, the small, wood-paneled dining room was full to bursting with my family members. Ten or more people squeezed around a table meant for six, with just an inch of elbowroom between…

I was an emotional mess when I first met Jeff Carroll at a Huntington’s disease conference. My recent gene-positive diagnosis was on my mind. I couldn’t talk about it without…

For a time following my diagnosis as gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), I avoided elderly people. The mere glimpse of a wrinkled hand was a reminder that I was going to develop Huntington’s someday,…

Every time we visit my dad, we go for a walk on the beach. On a recent cool September afternoon, the four of us wandered along the water’s edge, poking at rocks and admiring…

My husband and I were standing in a line of hundreds of people waiting to meet Michael J. Fox, one of the stars of the “Back to the Future” trilogy of movies.

I was alone in my flower shop, surrounded by a rainbow of fresh flowers and bright orange walls. The warm summer sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling window. Despite the beauty of my surroundings, my…

I made it down the long, sterile hallway and past the waiting room before bursting into tears. My husband gathered me into his arms as I stood there sobbing, unable to move. His shirt…