My happy place has always been in the outdoors. Since my diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease in 2024, I have leaned into outdoor adventures. Planning trips keeps me mentally engaged. Having challenging goals on my calendar motivates me to keep in shape, which is important; since research has shown that regular exercise can delay the progression of PD. Luckily, Lisa and I have been mis-adventuring together for nearly 40 years, and she has always been there to try to keep me in line.
Parkinson’s forced us to assess where we were in life and set more meaningful goals. For me, this meant early retirement and involvement with groups like ZWAP, Pass to Pass, and Rock Steady Boxing. In the short time we have been involved with these groups, we have met many folks “living well today”, as Davis Phinney would say. My goal is to try to live up to the examples that these folks have set.