Here’s a thoughtful meditation on Prince’s death and what it means to David Shaw, an opioid drug abuse counselor who recently was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
I suggest you just read the article: Click!
But as always, I enjoy pulling excerpts here.
For example:
Prince was more than a rock legend. He taught me how to deal with my mental illness and Parkinson’s disease.
And:
… I faced a bout of crushing depression. That was difficult enough until I received another diagnosis: Parkinson’s. I learned that my depression was a kind of early warning sign of Parkinson Disease.
And:
I am finding that there are other powerful hedges against adversity besides money. Writing is one of them. … Writing helps with the psychological aspects of the disease.
I can certainly relate to the last point – that writing helps you (me) cope with adversity. While Parking Suns is a public blog which I hope is entertaining and/or helpful for the readers, it’s also something I do to figure things out for myself. I am creating my own Parkinson’s world with Parking Suns. The music, the poetry, the art, the emphasis on physical exercise, the research updates.
And speaking of music, we’ll close this post with a clip of Prince performing with other rock stars on a rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Prince does a soaring guitar solo at the end that makes the rest of the performers look decidedly lackluster.
