Letter from Grace Ravno
2002Letter from Grace Ravno
Dear John
I belong to the Durban Support Group in Westville. A while back, you came to our meeting and gave a very interesting talk to us. I was interested particularly in hearing you say that if one concentrates completely on one thing, you can actually do it without shaking. You gave a few examples like carrying a very full glass of water and not spilling it, etc.
I was diagnosed with Pd 6 years ago, and although I am not too shaky, I have been getting worse. So I tried the concentration thing, and was thrilled to be able to pick up and carry a full glass of water across a room! I'm also a pretty dab hand serving drinks, when I am on "Bar Duty" at our bowls club. Then I decided to try this in another way. We all know how small our handwriting gets, and also how illegible.
Well, I have been doing Calligraphy for many years, but had virtually packed my pens and paper away because I saw no future there. Until one day I focused totally on my pen, the style I wrote it in, and I shut out all outside noises - and voila! My Calligraphy was as good as ever!
I have been asked to do various writings in various styles and as long as I am completely focused and don't speak to anyone, I am coping very well again. The first project I did, once I got started, was for a dear friend who had forgotten I had Pd. Her expectations were very high, and because of her confidence in my ability, I found I had risen to the challenge with no problem!
So, thank you for encouraging us to overcome our short-comings, and for giving us an extra prop to accomplish our goals. If you ever meet me at a cocktail party and you see how full my wine glass is, I would suggest you don't come and talk to me, because once my focus is taken off the glass, you could be the recipient of a shower of wine!
I am enclosing herewith a copy of "Be thou my vision....." all long verses of it, which I did a few weeks ago. Thank you again for your help in finding a way to overcome "the shakes".
Grace Ravno