How MS Is Like ‘Stick Season’
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I lived in the state of Vermont for a few years in the early 1990s. I studied at culinary school there for two years after my time in the U.S. Coast Guard, and then worked for another season or two after graduation before moving on.
It was a magical time for many reasons: the time that it was, the place in my life, the people I was with … and probably other factors as well.
I had moved there from Boston, and there were a few jokes about Vermonters that I’d heard before heading to the Green Mountain State. Most were, of course, big-city slagging, but some were more accurate than I would have imagined.
The one about Vermont having more than four seasons was real.
In addition to spring, summer, winter, and autumn, Vermonters know “mud season” and “stick season.”
What Is Stick Season?
Mud season is the few weeks in early spring when the snow is beginning to melt but the ground hasn’t thawed beyond 6 to 8 inches deep — below that, it’s frozen a couple of feet down. This makes for several inches of thick mud that’s as easy to get a car stuck in as the famous snows of the state.
So what then is stick season? It was my favorite time of year in that beautiful state. My favorite, but one that most people tended to give a pass. It’s the several weeks between fall and winter when, as Robert Frost put it in his poem “October”:
“O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.”
After the international crowds of “leaf peepers” left and before the snow bunnies arrived to ski all day and enjoy long nights by hospitable hearths, we locals had the place to ourselves again. The barren trees and quieter days took a little getting used to, but the beauty of it all sunk in so deeply that I still remember it with great fondness.
You guessed it — I see similarities between stick season and living with my multiple sclerosis (MS).
The Subtle Beauty of Fallen Leaves
First off, of course, is the fact that most people wouldn’t understand the true beauty that can be observed and experienced when the parts of life that they see as attractive aren’t around. We don’t live in the crisp days with beautiful foliage popping all around us. Nor do we spend our days schussing down mountains of glistening powder.
Those are the glamorous aspects of that rural, farming state. When I lived in Vermont, there were more cows than there were human residents, but we were less than a three-hour drive for more than 20 million people. We had our share of visitors during the peak seasons.
Ours is a life among the fallen leaves of our former careers and friends who have blown away during our MS gusts. For those who haven’t walked this path, they mayn’t find much to look at. But we have found a peace and tranquility as we trod this road.
The Wonder of Navigating This Changed World
It isn’t the same version of wonder as when colors blaze or when nostrils flare from the fresh cold. It’s a beauty that takes some time to appreciate and a good bit of talent to navigate. So much of our former lives lie scattered around us like October leaves that the path forward can be become obscured, and we can become easily lost during those early days.
The people who have found their way along the life-with-MS path have always been helpful to me, and I have tried to return the favor.
The smells, the sounds, the feel of the air itself are different in my MS stick season. Different from what I experienced before, different from what I would have thought I’d find wondrous … but it is and others may never understand that.
But it’s all right. I have new friends with whom I walk this forest and that has made all the difference.
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
Cheers,
Trevis
My new book, Living Well with Multiple Sclerosis, is available for preorder on Amazon. Follow me on the Life With MS Facebook page, and read more on Life With Multiple Sclerosis.
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