Humans of St. Norbert:

“This year is kind of a big one for me because I turned 34 in March. That isn’t really a milestone for many people, but for me it was the age my mom was when she was diagnosed with ALS. After she was diagnosed, she lost the ability to use her arms, hands and her legs so she wasn’t able to walk anymore. Even though I have no idea what my future holds as far as my health goes, and there’s been no indication that I will get ALS, I can’t help but feel that I am sort of embarking on bonus time. As the calendar turned to 2020, I was just like everyone else and thought this year was going to be my year, but for me it was more like ‘I am not going to spend my energies this year worrying about what’s going to come because I have no idea.’ So I made a commitment to be more active, to take my kids on more adventures and experience more things.

“Funny enough, as the universe likes to remind people that we are not in control, the day I turned 34 was the day that everything shutdown and we were all sent home. This year hasn’t really looked like how I expected it to. I expected the summer to be the time that we are traveling with our kids and making new memories. We aren’t going on adventures, but we certainly are making new memories and certainly having new experiences. The kids will probably always remember the time that mom became their home school teacher and the jury is still out on whether that will be a good memory or not. My husband and I try to look at it on the bright side. We are still able to do all these things and have been able to spend time with our kids that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. And for me personally, I am still able to get out of bed everyday and be grateful for the ability that I still have physically and the time that I still have.” – Hannah O’Brien, associate editor of publications and marketing communications