Being Like Katie

Normally my New York Times morning newsletter is about Covid. Or politics. Or climate change.

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The other day, the newsletter featured Katie Moser. And now, I can't get that article out of my head.

Fifteen years ago, Katie knew she had genetic predisposition to Huntington's Disease. She wanted to find out if she was going to get it.

She was 25 years old. Testing revealed she had the gene and will begin to show symptoms by the time she's 50.

Not one to sit back and cry in her beer, Katie set out to live to the fullest. She travelled when she wanted to, never holding back and saying, "I'll do that next year." Because she knew next year she might not be able to. 

At one point, Katie wanted to have a child, going so far as to plan artificial insemination with a donated embryo. There were three possible embryos. All three had the gene for Huntington's. Becoming a parent wasn't in the cards for her.

July 14th was Katie's 40th birthday, a date she shares with Woody Guthrie, who died of Huntington's at the age of 55.

Katie is wonder, and she made me think about my own path. 

Would I have wanted to know my life was going to be cut short? Would I have seized the day, as Katie did or would the knowledge have crushed me? What in my life would I have done differently?

I am guilty of getting hung up on the day-to-day dramas of life, and they often consume me.  Stupid human things. Worries about the car or work or paying bills or what to make for dinner. Sulking over the abundance of rain this week.

I don't have the itch (or the scratch) to do a lot of traveling. But I could take some time for myself. Spend a few hours in the park, watching birds. Take a long walk around the neighborhood. Or watch a chick flick. I did all of these things in abundance, years ago, before I got bogged down with all the crap. 

Maybe it's time to get in touch with that Barb again.

That's the funny thing about people like Katie Moser. They don't really know how many others they touch and inspire.

Thanks, Katie. I wish you well.