Columns

“How are you?” is one of the most common greetings I hear. It is ingrained in the culture and is distinctly American. Unless the person is a close friend, the anticipated answer is “good” or “fine.” If you are feeling terrible, “a little sick”…

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 mind was at the bottom of a deep, black pit, and I was struggling to get…

Zombies, spiders, losing your job. What is your greatest fear? Mine used to be drowning, but not anymore. My biggest fear now is losing the woman I love and adore to Huntington’s disease (HD). Over the last year, our family has had its ups and downs. The gene-positive diagnosis of…

My mother is right about pretty much everything, so much so that I sometimes think that she can see into the future. So, whenever she is wrong, I feel the urge to take out my phone and record her admitting her mistake. Those occasions are…

Have you ever been on a plane with a couple and their small child? You hope the child falls asleep or, at the very least, behaves. At some point during the flight, it’s not uncommon for children to whine and fidget, cry and hit the seat, or insist on getting…

Today, I was opening a straw for my drink the way I always do: I rip off a small section toward one end, then remove the longer end of the wrapper. While holding the shortened wrapper, I insert the bare end of the straw into the cup…

Earlier this year, I heard of an opportunity to write a column for Bionews Services. As many of you know, my wife, Jill, was diagnosed with the Huntington’s gene. Before I applied, I wanted to discuss it with Jill. I have shared in the past that my…

I decided that I did not want to have children so long ago that I no longer remember it. At the time, I thought I only had a 25 percent chance of having Huntington’s disease. Since then, I have come up with plenty of…

When Jill and I lived in Florida, we loved being outside, going to local parks, walking on the beach, and hanging out with friends and family. Life was good. Then we moved to the Midwest, and we went to a city where we had no family and knew no…

Growing up, the fact that my grandfather had Huntington’s disease (HD) wasn’t a secret. It was the reason that, when we drove to Pennsylvania to see my family, we had to pull over to feed him through a tube. It was also why I watched the man…