Courage in the face of adversity

When we're here at the coast, we walk each morning along the shore, getting our exercise, watching for dolphins or diving pelicans, and mainly, looking for beach glass.  Quite often, we see an older lady, who I would guess at mid-70's, struggling to walk with the stumbling, stiff-legged gait that I assume is Parkinson's.  We always see her with whom I assume is her son, walking close beside her, accompanied by a white lab.  Usually she has a belt on so he can keep her from falling or stumbling.  It's one of those situations where you don't want to stare, so I try to keep eye contact to a minimum, but her struggling gait can be really painful to watch.  I'd guestimate it takes her a minute or two for each 5 or 6 steps.

Yesterday, we saw her with only the dog to accompany her.  The dog came running up to us and dropped his ball at my husband's feet, obviously anxious to play since she was unable.  Danny threw the ball several times, prompting a "Thank you" from the lady, and for the first time, I was able to really look her in the eye (usually she is farther away from us, and looking down at her feet, but she stopped to watch her dog run).  Today, we repeated the procedure.  Except this time, as we passed her by, I saw she was really struggling to place her foot.  The sand at that point was a little softer, and she had to be very careful that she had good footing.  My husband finally went up to her, offering to help her to the harder sand closer to the water, but she replied that was even more dangerous as she didn't have time to get out of the way if a higher wave came sweeping in.  Then she confided she'd already fallen twice that day.

I could see now that she was, in her prime, as stunningly beautiful woman.  You could still see the traces of her beauty, she was still taking care of herself and was a very attractive older lady.  One whose body is turning on her.  She has to struggle down a long flight of steps to get to the beach, as all the houses are up the cliff.  She has true courage, I think.  I'm sure she endures stares because of her struggling walk, and yet she doesn't give up.  

I so admire her courage and perserverance.  To struggle so, but to be damned determined to not give up what she loves, which is to walk on that beach with her dog.  She is fighting her disease for all she's worth, not going willingly into the dark despair of being bedridden.  She must know what's ahead, and she is meeting it head on with grace.  That, is true courage, although I doubt she'd agree with me.  I can only hope, should I ever have to walk in her steps, that I could handle it with as much grace as she.