What if you saw your life from a bird’s eye view? What if you could see everything you’ve been through, every time you took a stand, every time you’ve fallen and rebounded? Every disappointment, every leap of faith? Everything you come from: the moments, the places, the people who have loved you, raised you, taught you hard lessons, and grown alongside you?
This is what our I Am! poem is all about. When you or a loved one is living with a movement disorder, it’s easy to lose track of all that makes you who you are and, instead, become the diagnosis. At PMD Alliance, we know you are much more than a disease. You have all these parts and, still, you are whole.
The I Am! poem is a tool that invites you to get curious and creative, exploring your whole self and revealing the magic that makes you who you are.
Everyone has a story.
In the I Am! poem below, Diane Renz, who’s living with Parkinson’s, honors her roots in the military, her journey of service, and the connections she feels with people around the globe who battle PD every day:
Diane Renz
I am of the Military
Bonding with others who share the cloth of our Nation.
Leadership lessons engrained in my brain, always teaching,
always yearning for knowledge.
A life of service,
Military life left behind, service instilled within my soul.
Service and teaching fuel my passion for Pilates,
to strengthen those that share Parkinson’s with me.
And now as we weave the fabric of our friendships, driven by this disease
I am honored to serve beside those who choose,
to wear this cloth and fight to move.
