12/10/2007 – 5:30 p.m. – TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!Today, I turned 43 years old.  Guy didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, so I told him.  I’m still walking, I’m not in a wheelchair, and I’ve gotten even better since I moved to the country.  All of that is true, but I didn’t really explain the entire thing.  Then, I got a wonderful birthday email from my former husband.  He reminded me how scared we were 14 years ago, only 2 weeks after my 29th birthday.  Just after Christmas day that year in 1993, I was unable to walk without holding a wall, my eyes were spinning and would not hold still, and I was very nauseated and weak.  When I went to an ear/nose/throat specialist thinking I had an ear infection, he checked my ears and said, “No, your ears are fine.  You either have a brain tumor, AIDS, or MS.”   Wonder of wonders, the emergency MRI revealed that I had the most benign of my choices.  However, because my brother had died of muscular dystrophy (MD) 4 years earlier, we were both really frightened.  Neither of us knew anything about MS only that diseases starting with an “M” were very bad, and as young professionals in the first years of starting our own business, it seemed that the entire sky had fallen.After 10 days in the hospital where I watched the ball drop in Times Square, I left the hospital in a wheelchair and the doctors could not tell me if it was permanent.  On top of that, the wonderful neurologist who had suspected MS initially was not covered by our health insurance which sent us on a voyage to find a new neurologist.We were smart and contacted the National MS Society while I lay in my hospital bed.  We educated ourselves and then found a new neurologist.  I don’t remember his name, but his office was in a the city (sorry--the word ghetto comes to mind), and we did not communicate well.  Praise to the Goddess who directed us to the Cleveland Clinic and my first really wonderful neurologist.Now on my birthday 2007, I can barely believe the water that has gushed under my bridge.  In a heartfelt confession, my former husband came out as gay, we continued to grow our business but separated then divorced, and the world shifted.  When the MS made working extremely difficult, I chose to quit and buy the farm.Now, my farm was always a dream about which my former and I had talked.  As it turns out, it was really just MY dream and MS was not going to make me change my dream.  I allowed it to take my career, I allowed it to limit me, but I was not going to let it take my dream.So, here I am, 43 years old, living on the farm of my dreams.  Happily, I found a partner who also shared the dream of a farm as those are his childhood memories.  By hook or by crook, we started the farm after winning and buying the property at auction.  That was 2001, and since then, we’ve build a house and 3 barns/outbuildings, installed a greenhouse (in farm country, also called a high tower), and planted several fruit and nut trees.  We planted 150 feet of strawberries and plant a large garden which is started from seed each spring.We have dogz and I hope to have chickens in the spring of 2008.  Most importantly, I have a peaceful place to hide where I am able to face the MS on MY TERMS.  Honestly, when people tell me Happy Birthday! I think Happy Birthday INDEED!  I am a blessed woman, MS and all.  In a way, MS made my dream possible because stepping away from working was very difficult.  Yes, it’s sometimes harder to make ends meet, but the fact is that I’m a very rich woman when you account for the simplicity of the life that I lead.  At 43, I have the life of my dreams, MS and all, and I thank the Universe for all that has been given to me.