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 grass waving in the breeze, and turned down random roads that we happened upon. We cracked…

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 familiar neighborhood shops, and waved to fellow business owners. I ordered my usual coffee and said…

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 the catwalk-style stage wearing a long, embroidered dress, her braided hair cascading down her back. A…

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 had just returned from my fifth run of the week. I was beating down my body…

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 us. My dad sat at the head of the table, which was covered by a cream…

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 crying, and I believed that I would never be happy again. My husband and I were…

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, and that was something I was trying to forget. Recently, my husband and I attended our…

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 the ripples in the sand. My dad was wearing his green fleece jacket, jeans, and a…

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. All around us were adults dressed up as their favorite comic and movie characters. We had…

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…

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 quickly became stained with my tears. We paid no attention to the dinging bell and the…