By Doug Ankerman

Step outside and you’ll notice the change.  Temperatures beginning to dip.  Breezes blowing a tad harder.  Trees morphing from green to an artist’s palate of reds & yellows. 

My once vibrant flowers now pots of muddled blandness.  Fall sucks the life out of everything once bright and lively.  A looming forecast of what’s to come. 

Fall is gnarly…Err wait, what?  No, no fall is good!   

Fall is when I, as an MSer, come back to life! 

Summer’s blazing sun—gone. 

Scorching heat—gone. 

Thick as soup humidity—adios. 

Fall is when I emerge from a cocoon of air conditioning and actually begin to live.  Walking (Okay, shuffling) without a cooling vest & floppy sun hat. 

Fall is when my energy returns.  My head clears.  Movement improves. 

Spasticity fades.  My limbs less kinky.  I sleep better.  I can do things.  I become an active participant rather than just someone schlumped in a chair. 

In the fall I breathe deeper.  Refreshed.  My outlook brightens.  My “to-do” lists gets done.  Activities happen when I want to do them, not based on the weather. 

Now I understand not everyone shares my enthusiasm for fall.  The change in the season may affect you completely different.  That’s the maddening thing about multiple sclerosis.  Some suffer just the opposite.  I feel for those and hope you find positive solutions for coping. 

I can only speak for myself, but as fall blooms so do I.  Fall IS my season of revival. 

Doug writes silly stuff about MS and other topics on his award-winning (Can you believe it?) humor blog at myoddsock.com