Monday Quiz About Me

1. Finish this sentence - The thing I dislike most about shopping is....

Anything that can’t be ordered online. I shop comparing prices and order things for the most part. I stopped shopping for fun when I was about 25. I still like checking out the souvenir store before leaving a museum, but a mall as an attraction? I’ll pass.

What I dislike most about grocery shopping, besides the ever escalating prices, is when I can’t get everything on my list at one store. When I leave the grocery store, everything on my list should be crossed off and in the brand I use or the brand that matches my coupons.



2. What is your favorite flavor of jello?

Cherry or lime. I generally like anything that’s cherry or anything green. (My Jello earrings are lime)


3. If you could trade places with anyone in the world for one day who would you be and why?

David and I talked about this very thing just a couple days ago. We'd be interested in trading places with each other for a day. Imagine how enriching it could be for a marriage if you had the opportunity to truly understand how your spouse thinks and feels.

But I also think that my understanding the extent of the burden he bears in compensating for what I can’t do as well as him knowing my determination to overcome my challenges to enjoy things with some level of normalcy would help us both suggest even better ways to deal with the situation we share as a whole.

But really, MS or not, who wouldn’t want to trade places with their spouse for a day?


4. Who changes the light bulbs at your house?

No brainer on this one. When I reach up for anything I have to have something solid to hold on to or I'll totally lose my balance. David is 6’5”. Who’d change the light bulbs in your house? :) Grandma used to wait to change some of her ceiling bulbs until David and I came to visit. In fact, I think she had him change a light bulb the first time she met him. hehe



And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

My brother and I had a hypothetical conversation when Grandma was sick about what you’d give up if you had to lose either your cognitive abilities or your mobility. Our great-grandmother had severe dementia for about the last seven years of her life and Grandma had slipped into a milder dementia for about the last five months of hers. Our mom was very limited in the things she could do and her mobility because of her heart condition.

I think the teeth marks are permanent where my answer came back to bite me in the butt. :)

So the question is:

If you had to give up either your ability to walk and freely function or your ability to remember and think clearly, what would you choose and why?

I, almost prophetically, chose that I’d give up my mobility if I had a choice. The reasoning, and it’s still the reason I’m okay with my challenges, is that my physical abilities are not who I am. My mind and my memories are who I am. It’s that my mind still functions well that enables me to adapt to what I must do differently.

Dave chose to keep his mobility. He said he’d rather not know what was going on but still be able to do things. He also cited not wanting to be a burden on his family.

My thought on that is that he wasn’t as close to Mums as I was and never felt the pain of someone you love dearly not knowing who you are anymore. I’d have given anything to push her wheelchair for three years while hearing her say my name. I hope, and I think it’s true, that the burden of pulling the chair out of the trunk for me is preferable to me not remembering someone who cares enough to lift that chair.