Multiple Sclerosis goes dancing
The Rolling Stones were coming to town!!!! Yes, THE Rolling Stones, right to my little corner of the world!
Ok, if you insist on being specific, it was not my town but the town right next door to my town. The town that I could drive to in less than 10 minutes. How much more exciting can things get?
Please allow me to digress slightly.
Previously I blogged about how I am not a fan of spring (Chop Their Happy Little Heads Off.) True, I do not like the bugs, pollen, noises, crowds, heat and humidity that comes with spring and thus why I claim I do not like the season as a whole.
Recently however, I discovered (without even shelling out a dime for therapy) a secret, darker reason why I don’t like spring. Turns out, it’s a sad, emotional reason.
Here it goes- in my younger, exciting, party days, spring was the official start of the party season. My friends and I would begin to venture out of our tiny, crappy apartments and gear up for beach parties, dive bar parties, wedding parties, patio parties, house parties and any other party we could come up with.
One friend lived on a farm and staged a three day “Welcome to Spring” party each year. You could stumble home and come back during the three days or pass out in the hay next to the chickens- your choice. But the party was on!
Memorial Day was actually called “Memorial Day” as it was always an event just trying to remember how you spent it. If you had a memory of the party that weekend, than you were memorable indeed.
But whether from multiple sclerosis fatigue or the scary aging process, these days, I prefer the cocoon of cold weather in the winter and the anticipation and stocking up for the cocoon in autumn. Spring comes and I have no excuse to hide. And since my energy is zapped and I no longer have the party spirit, I feel like I’m missing out.
Somewhere around me is a cute 21 year old girl with a future, sitting by a bonfire and flirting with guys just a little wild. That girl is not me. If she were me, she would actually be holed up on her sofa with an iced tea and a good book, doing her best not to fall into a nap that will disrupt her sleep cycle for days.
But she used to be me and when spring arrives I feel like I am missing something. And when I can’t FIND what I’m missing then I start to REMEMBER what I’m missing and it just makes me feel old.
So, when my Rolling Stones fairy godmother sent me a text to tell me that the next day the Stones would be appearing in the little town next to ours, I couldn’t say no. Suddenly, since it was late April, the air of excitement hit and I looked forward to getting out. I was going to party and see the Stones and maybe this year I would be young and fun once again.
It didn’t matter that the Stones were appearing in a concert DVD, Shine a Light, at a local hall as a fundraiser for a radio station- it was the Stones in my very own neighborhood.
It didn’t matter that my fairy godmother and I would each pay $10 to see this DVD at this hall when we each had the same DVD at home and had watched it several times before.
And it didn’t matter that we would pay $7 for a small glass of wine when we each had plenty of bottles of wine at home. We were getting out! We were being social! It was the Rolling Stones!
We reasoned that as this town was the source of many of our parties, we would likely see some old party friends at this event. And since I was getting so caught up in the spring air I even started to wonder if maybe I would meet some cute male Stones fan I never knew existed. It was spring and the possibilities were endless!
We donned our concert t-shirts and rock buttons and headed out. We arrived early and sat in my car for a bit, where we watched old people, like really old, like mid-sixties and stuff, venture into the hall.
Where were they going? They couldn’t be going to the airing of the Stones DVD- they were too old. My friend and I knew better.
Like we knew how wrong the DJ was when he teased some of those old folks about how Mick Jagger himself might show up. What an idiot. Everyone knows that it’s Keith who actually shows up to these things. Maybe Ronnie if he happened to be in the neighborhood but definitely not Mick.
We got our overpriced cheap wine in the plastic cups and headed in. And everyone WAS older than us! Everyone except the venue manager who kept calling the concert film and others like it “vintage.”
What the hell does “vintage” mean? I thought it referred to wine that actually tasted like it cost $7 which our wine did not.
As for the male Stones fan I would fall madly in love with? He was there alright. My age approximately, kind of handsome but standing in the back by himself and not at all friendly. All of that would be ok if he stood in the back so he could dance. BUT HE DIDN’T!!!
In fact, NOBODY DID!
It was killing my friend and I. We clapped and yelled and chair danced through the whole first half and then Tumbling Dice came on and we couldn’t help ourselves. We danced. As the saying goes, “we danced like no one was watching” which was not the case as since we were the only ones, everyone was watching. We didn’t care.
I tried to ignore the fact that we had to sit down right after that song. What happened to the days when we just HAD to dance through the whole concert?
The real surprise came when the Stones played Brown Sugar. It was then that I realized my friend and I were in an alternate universe. Nobody moved. You have to be in a coma to not dance to Brown Sugar.
I was at a live show once and a guy was taken out on a stretcher after a brutal fight with the very drunk biker behind him. Even as the blood was spurting from his multiple injuries, the guy was waving his arms along with the “I say yeah, yeah, yeah, woo” lyrics he was hearing.
At this hall near my hometown, I was dancing.
My friend was dancing.
But the young manager who called the film “vintage” was not.
The kind of cute, rude guy was not.
The other members of the audience who may have technically been closer in age to Mick and Keith than I was, were not.
It didn’t matter that they politely clapped after each song. How could they possibly be appreciating the music if it wasn’t giving them the energy to move?
The Stones had even played Start Me Up and again, nothing.
It was then that I realized something important.
This knowledge is crucial.
It may even reverse aging or even, maybe, just maybe, cure multiple sclerosis.
The lesson is this-
No matter how old you are or how tired you are or how weak you are, you can still rock life and have fun.
You just have to appreciate the Rolling Stones to do so…..
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Other than your inexplicable bias toward the Rolling Geezers, I agree 100%. We were given fair warning when Loggins and Messina sang, “Your Mama don’t dance and your Daddy don’t rock’n’roll.” This Mama and Daddy (and Grammie and Gramps) still do both as often as possible. Once you stop rockin’ and rollin’ you might as well let’em start throwing dirt on you.
So true friend. But, speaking of truth, can you honestly admit that you don’t start dancing when you hear Brown Sugar, especially a live version?
You got that right!
The Stones are coming to Pittsburgh–but I am not going (boo-hoo!).
I am lucky to have seen them twice. That was two times BEFORE stricken with MS. It would be interesting to see how I would react to seeing the Stones with my full-blown MS. But I gotta believe I would still rock!
You would rock, My Odd Sock!!
Hi Yvonne, I just finished your wonderful book. I think the seal on the beach (from your blog) that you felt like was protecting you, was your Nana Sousa. If you ever get to an MS lecture given by Dr. Lahti, she always says how much MS SUCKS!!. She is so informative, you would really enjoy her talks. KEEP MAKING US SMILE Thanks, Denise
Thank you so much Denise-that is a great thought (about the seal.) Funny as I didn’t even think of it but I totally think you may be right! Thank you too for your awesome comments about my book- I really appreciate them! Please tell your friends and please keep checking out the blog. I swear writing it is helping to keep me sane!
My very best to you and I hope things are great in your world- other than this sucky MS of course…
I do remember all 3 of us dancing at the Stones concert and the awesome seats, and the Motley Crue concert I felt like I was 15 again head banging my heart out and singing to all the songs…. Age is just a number and its your mood that allows you to feel whatever age you feel.
So true- I felt young again at this thing but it wasn’t hard since every one else was at least 15 years older. At the last Stones concert I did dance a lot so what you say is true!
I am a 64 year old female, I was diagnosed of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2008 (MRI), my symptoms started out with severe fatigue, poor balance, numbness, double vision, heat intolerance and anxiety. I was unable to go back to work, I tried Betaseron for about 6 years. Tried every shot available, all made me sick.
In November 2015, I started on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Herbal formula from NewLife Clinic, the treatment worked incredibly for my MS condition. I used the NewLife MS Herbal formula for a total time period of 4 months, it totally reversed my Multiple Sclerosis. I had a total decline of all symptoms including vision problems, numbness and others. Sometimes, i totally forget i ever had MS.
Visit NewLife Clinic web-site ww w. newlifeherbalclinic. com. I am very pleased with this treatment. I eat well, sleep well and exercise regularly. My attitude is extremely positive.
Thank you for reaching out Jesse and so glad that you are feeling so well! I’m keeping your comment up because I believe in us helping each other but sharing what works for us. BUT, readers please know that I personally am not familiar with NewLife Clinic and I am not recommending it myself. If you are interested in it please explore on your own.