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Joan Snyder said in part: PD just doesn't fit in with the mental > picture I have of myself and every so often I need a reality check to > make sure that I'm firmly planted in the here & now! It's kinda like > being 47-I'm still supposed to be 27! I still think, talk and act like > I'm 27 but unfortunately, a long hard look in the mirror, ............. > me crashing down to reality. How can we ever get comfortable with this > aging stuff & then with PD & then with all the other stuff? Maybe > someday I'll grow up and not have these weird delusions about my age, my > looks & my condition...maybe not!! I know what Joan means about looking in the mirror and seeing a person who looks like my mom probably looked 33 years ago when she was 47 and I was 15. How did I get to be the middle aged mother person in the mirror and my babies grow to be 22 and nearly 17?? I guess time does fly when you are having fun....or even if you aren't. I can't believe that as of Tues. 11/3/98 I have been diagnosed with Parkinson's for an entire year. Where has that year gone? I guess it is natural that we as human beings often see ourselves in our "mind's eye" as young, ready to take on the world, with all of life ahead. It is best to be positive and think great things about what is possible for us to do. How we actually look in the mirror isn't as important as how we feel about what we can do with today Can I do most of the things on my to do list? Will my visit with my parents be enjoyable? Will this change in meds be better? Will the new "used" car my husb. just bought for me be as good as the last new car we purchased? Will a cure/cause for pd be discovered in (99)? I will answer each ? with a YES, knowing that is what I hope to happen, realizing that may not ACTUALLY be the outcome. We are entirely too obsessed with physical appearance in this electronic age. That's what is nice about e-mail. I can imagine that Barb of Calif. is tall, leggy, tanned----or Jerry of TX wears jeans, plaid shirt and a ten gallon hat, BarbKKFI of KS is a good witch, Janet of Canada may wear lumberjack shirt and dungerees like Paul Bunyon, Ken of FLA must look like Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise. Who needs a mirror if our perceived likeness gives us strength to get through the next 24? If reincarnated, I'd like to try a month as Julia Roberts or any tall, slim, leggy female or as Garfield, the cat. Just to see if it would change my life. Keep on thinking you are 27 and can do anything, Joan. Jeanette Fuhr 48/dx. Nov 97