Ben Hofmeister was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2014, ending a 22-year career in the U.S. Army, as both a Ranger and Green Beret. He gradually settled into a wonderful retired life in Anniston, Alabama, with his wife and their three boys. He couldn’t be happier. After being inspired by the writing of others with MS, he decided to add his own voice. His column is raw and honest, but sometimes sarcastic and pithy too. MS is a serious disease but a life with it doesn’t always have to be.
Ever since I learned how, I have enjoyed reading. My tastes have changed a little over the years, as has the way I read. I like the feel and smell of a real book,…
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While helping me get dressed this morning, my wife handed me a T-shirt from a dresser drawer across the room. It happened to be a shirt commemorating an event from my pre-multiple sclerosis…
Every time I find myself in a multistory building, I end up on an elevator. It’s not as though I’m too lazy to take the stairs — well, OK, I am lazy — but…
There’s a slight chance that I might be stubborn. I don’t really see it, but my wife, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, and former teammates all seem to think so. I personally think that they’re…
School started last week for our three kids. They got to see friends from the last school year, meet their new teachers, and sit at a new desk in their new classrooms. Per tradition,…
If I were a superhero (or a supervillain, for that matter), I’d have an origin story. As it stands, I’m not even a minor hero in real life, and only a mediocre one when…
In my last column, I mentioned that I had an intrathecal baclofen pump. I’d make a bad pun, but I don’t have it in me. Spasticity, spasms, and hyperreflexivity were some…
“Thanks, I hate it.” Odd way to begin a column, I know. I suppose I’d better explain myself. That phrase regularly appears in memes and other pop culture media as an expression of…
If you weren’t aware (I wasn’t), last Friday, June 17, was National Eat Your Vegetables Day. The day wasn’t created to tout any special diet per se, but to increase awareness of the…
I’m heading to the beach with my family soon. Not a resort, or any sort of popular, touristy destination. Far from it, in fact. We like to go to the old family beach house…
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