It’s been almost 2 months since my last post and it has been a CRAZY 2 months! I guess I will start from the beginning of this crazy journey. This is gonna be a long one. Buckle up!
Some point in early September of this year, my wife got a random message on Facebook Messenger from a Realtor asking if the property we had inherited was for sale. My wife responded immediately that it was not for sale. We didn’t even consider selling the land. It has been in my wife’s family for around 100 years. We had moved out there in July of 2022 as it was deeded to us. Our hope was to restore and remodel the house and have our farm animals and make it what it was when my wife was just a little girl. We started with lots of work on the outside making areas for our dogs and our chickens. Then we added a couple Alpacas and several goats. As far as the house went, we were able to catch up the back property taxes owed, thanks to a gift from my mom. We also put a new roof on and replaced the AC and Heat Pump. We put in a good chunk of money out of the gate. As time went on and we hit summer, we were continually spending our time and money just trying to keep up with the place and feeling like we were spinning our wheels. We weren’t losing ground but we weren’t gaining any either. My wife had put aside her hobbies and so had I. As someone with Parkinson’s I could only give so much. If I worked on the property for more than about 4 hours, I was done for the day and useless the next day. I wasn’t enjoying myself or doing any woodworking anymore. I had no time and no energy.
At the end of September, me and my wife were traveling to San Antonio as I had to have my DBS Battery replaced. While we were close to San Antonio and our hotel, my wife got another message from that realtor asking if we would consider selling the property and this time included a Cash offer with quick close and no inspection and so on. This time the message and number caught our attention. We messaged back that we would have to do some thinking about everything and would get back to her. I had my surgery the next day and we continued our discussion about the offer. We had multiple things we had to consider. The main one being, could we qualify for a house and also we had to consider TJ’s mom in the equation as she would be moving with us as well. We began looking online at different houses for sale that would work for us and just seeing what was out there. We had also made a counter offer and were waiting to hear back from the potential buyer on that counter as well. One Sunday toward the beginning of October we decided to go and see some of these houses that we had pinpointed and had driven by also. We made an appointment on Zelle with a Realtor and we met with her and she showed us a couple houses. We liked them but there were little things about each one that just didn’t fit for us as a family. We were getting ready to head home and had stopped to eat. TJ decided to see if we could go look at a house we had found on Zelle, even though we felt it wasn’t within our reach. We were close to it so what the hell. We called the Realtor we had just met with and it turned out she didn’t live very far from the house or where we were eating at. She called the listing agent and they allowed us to come and see it. We pulled into the driveway and waited for the Realtor. She showed up and let us in. We were barely 3 feet in the door and immediately felt that we were home. The house had been remodeled exactly to our tastes. A true Farmhouse feel with an amazing breezeway separating the house from the Mother in law quarters. We fell in love with the place and even after we left we all looked at each other and said how we kind of wished we hadn’t looked at it. Our Realtor asked if she could have a lender reach out to us and we said yes as we knew if we did sell, we would need financing in place and so on. The following week we got the counter offer and while it wasn’t where we thought it should be, it was a solid counter offer. We talked with the individuals realtor and told her we would think about it. We then began the process of getting qualified with a lender, That is another crazy story in itself but as we finally got hooked up with a local lender, we basically started the process over for a 3rd time. This lender was incredible and along with our Realtor, went above and beyond to help us out as this was our first time buying a house! Once we had the counter offer nailed down and knowing what we could afford, we moved forward with making an offer on the home of our dreams. A very long and stressful story short, we got the house and closed on it on November 15th.
We had already been packing and were more or less ready for the move. The stress had taken a toll on me and TJ. We were so exhausted by the time we had to move. It was rough. I was of little to no help as I was just mentally and physically exhausted but fortunately, we had A LOT of help. We finished moving the Sunday after Thanksgiving at around 4:30 in the afternoon.
One of our biggest reasons for deciding to sell the family property and move was because of me having Parkinson’s disease. As you all know by now, my motto is “Live your best life now!”. While it’s my motto because of Parkinson’s disease, this can and should be anyone’s motto. This applied to my wife as well. She was not living her best life now. We knew we had to make a change. I was exhausted living at the property. My wife was exhausted as well – physically and emotionally. We knew we had to get back to living our best life now and also be able to give her mom her “own place” with the mother in law quarters that were part of the house we bought. The other thing this property has is a HUGE shop! Big enough for me to set up my wood turning equipment etc. with more than enough room, as well as plenty of storage and an added on area for our animals and lawn equipment. The property also has a 10×20 building on it that we are using as a chicken coop. We downsized from 10 acres to just a little over 2 acres. We are finally going to be able to enjoy our home and our land and animals without killing ourselves every weekend and just spinning our wheels.
That is why I titled this entry “Another Fuck You to Parkinson’s”. Sure Parkinson’s, or “Mr. Shaky”, as my brother calls it, may win some battles but I am not letting it win the war! Not yet, Not now. I have more to do in this life and I will be goddamned if I am going to let Parkinson’s keep me from some of these things. I am not in denial, please understand that. I know what it’s going to do to me, but until it renders me to a wheelchair or whatever happens down the line, I am going to live the best I can. I know it’s progressing, even with DBS, I am having balance issues now. I walk into things sometimes. I laugh about it. While it’s sucks, I do find it kind of funny that I can be walking or even standing still and just slightly lose my balance or go to one side or the other for what should be no reason at all.
Another fuck you to Parkinson’s that I did during this process was buy something else. Many of you know my love for VW’s and in particular, VW Buses. My dad had a couple VW Beetles when I was growing up and I love those as well, but I always wanted a bus. They have become such collectors items that even a VW Bus rust bucket with a tree growing through the middle of it is going for more than I can afford. About six or eight months ago, I resolved with myself that I just won’t be able to afford a VW Bus. Especially a rust bucket. I don’t have the skills or money to even restore one and to buy one that is pretty much road ready is way out of my budget! My second love for VW’s has been a VW Beetle. Growing up with them and learning to drive in them with my dad has always been a fond memory, so I began looking for VW Beetle. I knew I wanted a ‘69 or ‘70 Beetle. Anything after 1971 just didn’t do it for me. I began searching Facebook Marketplace for several months and then I came across the one I wanted. It was a 1970 VW Beetle, a little rough around the edges with the patina look that I love. It had front end airbags installed so it can be raised and lowered and I love that lowered look anyway. The engine had been rebuilt, came with an original VW roof rack and so on. I began communicating with the seller and he told me about anything I asked about. It has some things that need some repairs but nothing crazy or nothing I shouldn’t be able to afford. I showed it to my wife and she liked it and told me to go check it out. I told her that if I go look at it, I am taking the money with me because there is a 99.9% chance, I am driving it home. I took TJ’s mom with me to go look at it, just in case I ended up getting it (HA!), and fell even more in love the minute I took it for a test drive. Brought back a flood of great memories along with that wonderful VW Beetle engine sound and the smell of gas! I pulled the trigger and now she is mine.
This is really a dream come true and I can’t wait to bring Betty to some car shows in the Houston area and also join a local VW Club. Betty was the name given to her by the previous owner and me and my wife just thought it fit so we are keeping her name. I took my wife for a drive this past Sunday, in Betty. It was her first ever ride in a VW of any kind, let alone a classic beetle! On Betty’s glovebox is a sticker the previous owner had made and placed there and it says “getfucked”. I love it and that sticker stays – because Parkinson’s disease can “getfucked”!
Betty rides low to the ground and I love her. I can get in and out of her okay (That’s what she said) and while I can do that, I am going to live my best life now, cruising around in Betty whenever I can!
While we may have to adapt to wherever we are at in our Parkinson’s journey, it doesn’t mean we give up. We continue educating ourselves, pursue the best treatment options we can that will work for us as individuals, keep pushing to live our best life now and raise our middle finger and keep finding a way to give another fuck you to Parkinson’s disease.
~Darryn
Punk Rock Parkinson's! 
Darryn,
Thanks for sharing these stories/chapters in your life. I think it is important for others, especially those who are struggling to process a PD diagnosis, to see that life goes on and there are more chapters (possibly many more) in their life story that are yet to be written.
With PD, it’s too easy to fall into a rut where every day is like the movie Groundhog Day, but far less entertaining.
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So true. We gotta take advantage of life while we can! There I days I do struggle to process my diagnosis of PD but Overall, I focus on just living each day the best I can!
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