This has been an amazing week and a half. I was honored to be invited to a reception organized to share the work of MJFF. I met Michael and we talked about hockey, climbing the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, Bhutan and all sorts of things, even PD. Debi Brooks and Indigogo were there. What a thrill to meet people I only know by name or moniker. The next morning I flew to New York for my first PPAC (People with Parkinson's Advisory Council) meeting with PDF. Once again, what an opportunity to meet people who have found creative ways to make PD an asset, or at least a vehicle for doing their best to effect change in research and application of resources for PwPs. Then home to Seattle in time for the APDA Hope Auction where I was so surprised and pleased to see that the banner I made brought in $740 for APDA. People paid $20 to sign the banner and then it was sold on the live auction. I'm carrying it with me to Nepal and will proudly and humbly set it in the breeze at the Annapurna base camp to send prayers of Hope Honor and Remembrance for those who signed the banner. When we return I'll quilt it into a wall hanging for the winner at the APDA auction, Hal Newsome, who wrote a book called Hope and has been to Annapurna. Why bother to share this? Without PD, none of these wonderful people or opportunities would never have entered my life. Without Jay Alberts' Pedaling for Parkinson's, I would not have been able to take advantage of these opportunities, including climbing Kilimanjaro last summer and riding in RAGBRAI. I am so much stronger now than before PD. I can feel my body changing with cramps, locked fingers, need for naps, lost words when I least expect it, banging into walls now and then, inability to write legibly, and other common PD problems, but I still feel like I'm one of the most fortunate people alive.