Martha Skrifvars:  

Life I moved to Oregon in about 1973 and did the 'back to the land' thing complete with geodesic dome, no electricty, outdoor plumbing, huge garden, etc. I had a small but succesful dairy goat farm. Because my son has cerebral palsy I moved back into town when he was school age to be closer to services for him. He is successful in his own right as he has beat all the negative outcomes the medical doctors predicted for him. Even though he can't talk or read or write, he does work full time and is in assisted living. He has a great sense of humor and is so animated that people swear they have had a conversation with him. I get a kick out of that. I was quite active physicaly during my 30's and was a competitive level bicyclist, both road bike and mountain biking. Shortly after I turned 40, while training for the STP (a one-day ride from Seattle to Portand, about 200 miles) I felt something pop in my head. My advice to anyone is if you start vomiting and have a violent headache acompanied by a very stiff neck, do not wait for medical assistance like I did. After 3 days of feeling like I was going to die, I nearly did. I was diagnosed with advanced viral spinal meningits, and although I did 'recover' I suffered from short-term memory loss, loss of most my math skills and other things we take for granted. I had to re-learn the layout of my little town of less than 20k population and I had trouble remembering what time of year it was, let alone the actual date. I do have my memory back, but if I get stressed or o...Expand for more