Bad memory

A local shop I often frequent is a small family run business. The first time I went in there, the lady enquired as to why I was walking with a crutch, so I explained I have Parkinson's. Satisfied by my simple one line answer, she went ahead and served me. I happened to drop in several days later, to buy something, and she asked me again why I was walking with a crutch. I felt a moment of deja vu, but politely told her I suffer from Parkinson's (I thought it was a little too much information to add I was also born with Gaucher disease). Content, she nodded her head and asked me what I needed. The third time I went in to this particular shop, I was greeted by the same smiling lady, and she asked me "You're still walking with that crutch, aren't you better yet?" Astounded by her question, I almost felt I was in the Twilight Zone, and beginning to wonder who had the bad memory and who had Parkinson's! I told her that one didn't get better from Parkinson's, that it's a degenerative disease and unless a cure is found soon, I would only be getting worse. "That's terrible" she said, flabbergasted at this appalling information. I agreed with her that it is terrible. "You shouldn't stand for that, you should do something about it" she told me with great verve in her voice. So I began to tell her of how I had written a collection of poems that was made into a book, and hadn't stopped writing since. I told her about my daily blog, public speaking and writing for The Huffington Post. I had only dropped in there to buy some cinnamon, which should have taken me a minute or two, and instead I ended up sitting down and speaking to her for almost 40 minutes. As other customers entered the store, they were told to shush and wait. I ended up with a small attentive audience in our corner shop who now know about Parkinson's. Education is the key, and we may presume that everyone's heard of Parkinson's, but clearly not; I can see that my work is far from done.