A Life in Letters — Jamie Hughes

I don’t normally go in for trends. For example, I don’t own a single pair of skinny jeans. I’ve never tried a Unicorn Frappuccino. I’m not on Instagram or Snapchat. I didn’t…

Like millions of other fans, I happily plunked down $13 to launch “Wonder Woman” into blockbuster status on its opening weekend. In fact, I was so excited that I purchased dress-up…

Multiple sclerosis has a way of messing with one’s head. Whether it’s emotional or psychiatric disorders, fatigue, brain fog, or physical problems, there’s a lot to wrestle with. And to effectively…

Pull up a chair, kiddos, and I’ll tell you a sad story. Because we’re both musicians, my husband and I love going to concerts together. We’re on a budget, so we have…

Like one third of America, I’m a cat lover. I’ve had kitties in my house since I was a child, often in sets. Currently, I’m the proud parent of two fur…

Last week, I celebrated by 39th birthday. Yes, 39. That’s one year shy of the big 4-0. The last year of my 30s. If life was a rollercoaster ride, I’m about six…

T.S. Eliot’s opens his masterwork The Waste Land with four stunning lines of verse: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing  Memory and…

Thirteen years ago, a neurologist sat on the edge of my hospital bed and told me, “You have MS. It’s not the end of the world. There’s more on the internet than…

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. That means we need to make the most of these four weeks to raise some money for research, and raise awareness about the disease…

When people ask me what I love, I usually respond, “God, my family, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball … in that order.” Other than the Razorbacks, Arkansas (my home state) doesn’t have…

Last week, I attended the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Washington, D.C. I had the opportunity to meet many fine folks who are hard at work creating…

Perhaps the most famous MS advocate today isn’t a patient, but the daughter of one. Author J.K. Rowling lost her mother to multiple sclerosis in 1990, something she describes as “an enormous…

There’s one thing you need to know about my family — we’re weird. We laugh at inopportune times. We can go entire days just speaking to one another in movie quotes. Sarcasm is…

Now that 2016 is thankfully behind us, it’s time to start a new year — fresh, rested, and ready to kick butt and chew bubble gum. That being said, rest in peace…

“This first candle in the advent wreath,” I told my kids as I clicked the lighter and set its flame atop the wick, “represents hope. What does that word mean to you…

In Cold Sassy Tree, the classic novel by Olive Ann Burns, Grandpa Blakeslee tells his grandson Will Tweedy that, “Livin’ is like pourin’ water out of a tumbler into a dang Coca-Cola bottle.

You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like there’s nobody listening, And live like it’s heaven on earth. Those lines from William W.

When you have a chronic illness, learning everything you can about it is both a blessing and curse. The part of me that’s a researcher and a digger at heart, the one who simply…

As a mother of two boys, I’m blessed with an abundance of dirty socks, Nerf darts, and Legos — all of which end up in the laundry (more or less) each week. And of…

A few weeks ago, I visited my general practitioner for a yearly physical. I was expecting him to harp on my weight, cholesterol, blood pressure — any of the other myriad issues that crop…