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Well, here I am at 3:30 AM and wide awake. I have not had one of these mornings in a while. While I'm up I guess I'll give vent to an aggravation. I read with growing fear about the idea that Parkinsons was going to change me from the lovable, friendly person that I am to a raving, self-centered, blank faced husk that nobody in their right mind would want to have anything to do with. I voiced my fears to the love of my life (Kristen) and asked her if I'd changed. She smiled at me and we launched into one of those long deep discussions that have helped us through so many of our problems. Kristen's analysis is that parkinsons does not change a person's personality, it enhances it. That is, at any particular moment, PD emphasizes that portion of my personality that happens to be dominant. If I happen to be feeling selfish, I really project selfish. If I'm happy then I'm happy in the extreme. Kristen's opinion is that if somebody is not paying close attention to what a person is like before PD takes hold, the PWP will appear to experience a personality change when in fact the different aspects of a normal personality are being exaggerated. Now Kristen is not a doctor, but after thinking about this for a while, I agree with her. This view of how PD effects personality may not be scientific, but it lets me push aside the idea that something is going to change me into someone I don't want to become. A incredibly stubborn and somewhat independent, Marvin Giles