When you or a loved one has a chronic illness, it can be a long, difficult struggle. The pace and tasks of life change. These illnesses can be debilitating and often force you to give up things you love. It’s hard on everyone. This is why you must have humor.
I remember one time when Erik was reading the warnings on a medicine he had to start taking and one of the listed side effects read: “sudden death.” He told me about it and my response was, “try not to die.” Well, that struck as us both as hilarious, so we use it often to lighten the mood.
Another time Erik told me something or other hurt and he couldn’t figure out what he had done to cause the problem. My response was, “You have RA, dumbass” in true Red Foreman fashion (reference to That 70s Show). He’s never let me forget that, and he reminds me of it whenever he can.
Recently we finally introduced our son to the cult classic, The Princess Bride. About that same time, Erik went through a flare that had him using his Canadian crutch. Somehow the voice of Andre the Giant as the Dread Pirate Roberts and the weakened, flopping head of Wesley merged with the crutch in Erik’s mind, and he began commenting on things: “The crutch agrees,” or “The crutch disagrees” along with the arm clip mimicking Wesley’s head flop (away from Erik for yes, toward him for no).
-Supergirl
I asked Supergirl if she would write a few blog posts about our real lives. We’re calling it Hank and Jane IRL, and if you don’t get the Hank and Jane reference, you need to read Errant Gods 🙂
