‘Lenny’ is my constant companion the doctors call COPD/Asthma.  Naming my constant health companion seems to make life easier for me in relating to my disease as it gives it a bit of a personality.  Besides treating ‘Lenny’ as a companion, come good days or bad, is much better than always dealing with it as an enemy.

Let’s see where ‘Lenny’ and Me have been most recently – we’ve been on the road again.

What do you do in your travels to get those daily ‘pick me ups’ that we all need?

Some of you may be thinking – what is this ‘pick me up’ stuff.  The ‘pick me up’ stuff is anything can give you a sense of positive, upbeat, life is better feel within your day.  The ‘pick me up’ stuff is anything that may take my mind off the sometimes daily and unexpected battles with what you would know as your chronic illness or disability, which for me is ‘Lenny’ or my COPD/Asthma.

For me the best ‘pick me up’ I can get would have to be time with my grandkids and this past weekend I got plenty of that as I had time with some of them both Saturday and Sunday, including an opportunity to get several neck-squeezing hugs and funny conversations on Saturday with a grandson whom I do not get much time with.

On Sunday, my daughter and her four kids, picked me up and we made a run north to Nebraska to spend a few quality hours with my Dad, my sister and my niece with her husband and my great nephew – my first opportunity to meet the cute redhead in person.  Then to top it off, just before we pulled out to head home, my lifetime friend Cathy stopped by.

Let me tell you, for adult people, Cathy is an instant ‘pick me up’ for me because we can talk stories and life that goes back to the first time we met as little folks in kindergarten.  As I told my daughter and my four grandkids, all standing in the driveway ready to go but willing to let Papa see his friend, Cathy is the kind of friend everyone should hopefully be blessed with and also one of those folks who would make any day of struggle seem more survivable.

When it comes to what can ‘pick me up’, people seem to be the easiest to see, find and appreciate.  For me people, both those physically living close by like my daughter and grandkids, but also those who I communicate with on this wonder we call social media – they are what on many days keep me going.

For me, especially on those days when ‘Lenny’ may not be giving me a major flare up, but is giving me a constant, steady annoyance of breathing problems, that is when I rely on others both physically visible and those in the invisible waves of electronics and science to help keep me from wandering off into the land of frustration and anger for the annoyance of ‘Lenny’ keeping me from getting things done as planned.

As I write this, my companion ‘Lenny’ gave me a moment that reminded to do something with one of my treatments that I often seem to forget and in doing so, ‘Lenny’ also reminded me that the most important ‘pick me up’ in people form that roams around my life is that person best known as my number one caretaker, my closest friend and confidant – that person I am blessed with as being my wife, Linda.

So for today, ‘Lenny’ and I are grateful for those ‘pick me ups’ that come in the form of people, as we both know that each in their own individual ways provide me with the ‘pick me up’ I may be needing and ‘Lenny’ the reminder that my chronic illness or disability will not rule my travels of life.

And that my friends, is where ‘Lenny’ (my COPD/Asthma) and me are at 4 today.

As always – if you or anyone you know have any symptoms involving lung and breathing functionality, and they linger over and over while disrupting a lifestyle – then please ask questions and get it checked out.

Remember – ‘a person without good breathing, is a person without a good life’, so let’s do what we can, to learn what we can, to improve what we can.

I bid to all – smiles, prayers, blessings and steady breathing – Mr. William.

(Copyright@2017, CrossDove Writer through wheezingaway.com – no part of this write may be used or copied without written permission.)

Follow all the adventures of “‘Lenny’ and Me 4 Today” at wheezingaway.com or on Facebook at “COPD Travels”.

NOTES: Sometimes we share what may seem like medical information, but we are only giving descriptions and highlights of various aspects of having COPD and/or Asthma and no way do we ever want our information to be considered medical treatment type of information, always consult your physician for more, clearer and more medical founded information.