Bent Nail Ranch

Wow! I can't believe that's it been two years since I've posted anything on this blog. I guess I replaced it with facebook. This MS is ruining my life! I always felt that it was manageable, but lately it is getting more difficult to do the everyday tasks. I fell in the shower a few months back and am now to take a shower. We need to remodel the bathroom, but that takes money. Maybe later this year we will be able to afford it. My dad was in a nursing home by the time he was my age. I'm 55. Dad lived until he was 65 in there. The last few years he didn't communicate at all. I couldn't bear to see him like that. We were always able to talk about everything. He was a good listener. During my teen years, we fought a lot. I think we were too much alike. I guess we were, because he had MS too. He was always such an active person. He would work and come home and work in the yard or shoot his bow and arrows or golf. In the winter, he would tinker with various projects in the garage. He never quit until about 10:00 pm and then he take his shower, watch the 11:00 news and go to bed. He was back up by 5:00 to start all over again. Mom is a more docile person. She would lock us out of the house so we would get some fresh air but I think it was more for her own sanity. She liked to read too. It is really hard to read with 4 kids in the house! Mom was 17 when she had me, and 23 when she had her youngest. It had to be hard for her to be so young and saddled down with four kids and a husband. When I was 9, we moved from Felicity, Ohio, (where we lived right next to my paternal grandparents and my aunt), to Newtonsville, Ohio. At first I hated it. Then I met the neighbor kids. Debbie was a year younger than I, Jim was the same age as my brother, Joyce was a year younger than my middle sister, and Billy was a year than my youngest sister. We all had someone to play with. Mostly though, we all played together. They had the best place to play. There were 5 acres of land and all kinds of things to do. They had an apple orchard, where we played softball or kickball. They had an old garage with a loft. We converted that old loft into our clubhouse. We put an old rug up there and old chairs. We had a lot of fun. In the front yard, which faced the creek, they had a swing set and a big rope hanging from a big tree. I liked swinging on that rope. If some would push, you would feel like you were flying. In the winter, we would spend hours playing in the snow. I remember coming in the house to change our gloves because they were wet. When we didn't have anymore gloves, we would use socks. Mom had a lot of laundry because of us. Most times, we were at the neighbors house. When Debbie started piano lessons, they bought an old upright. I longed to take lessons too. I tried to learn from her books with her help, then proceed to play it over and over. I must have drove their mom nuts. But I remember her as a very patient mom. Sometimes she would take us shopping at K mart, or some store like that. Now it takes a lot of patience to take 5 or 6 kids shopping! Years later, my youngest sister was diagnosed with MS, myself, and Jim and Joyce. Plus my dad. There are several other people in Newtonsville with it too. There must be a reason. We have heard that there was a cannery in Newtonsville and they used to have a dumping ground where our house was. It was right next to the creek between our houses. There must be a chemical in the ground or something. No one has had it tested. I think we should. Maybe that's why we all have MS.