So what I say about Tracy is this: Tracy's big challenge is not having a Parkinson's patient for a husband. It's having me for a husband. I happen to be a Parkinson's patient.
Interpretation
Michael J. Fox emphasizes that the real challenge for his wife Tracy is not his condition, but rather being married to him as a person.
In this quote, Michael J. Fox highlights the idea that relationships involve complexities that go beyond physical conditions or challenges. He suggests that while having Parkinson's is a significant aspect of his life, the emotional and relational dynamics in his marriage with Tracy add layers of difficulty that aren't solely about his health—it's about their partnership and the love they share, which can sometimes be even more challenging than the illness itself.
In practice
In a discussion about the challenges faced by caregivers, this quote can illustrate the emotional aspects of living with a partner who has a chronic illness.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
That chain of relationships made me think of how connections are made--you read a book, you meet a person, you have a single experience, and your life is changed in some way. No act, therefore, however small, should be dismissed or ignored.
Jealousy is the suspicion of one's own inferiority.
Where there must be a choice, a girl will choose Daddy. Even if you are Mommy, you concede that this must be so: you remember when you were a girl, too.
Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.
To fully understand the black immigrant experience in the U.S., we must understand it not in contrast to the African-American experience, but central to it.
Why has marriage failed? In the first place, we raised it to unnatural standards. We tried to make it something permanent, something sacred, without knowing even the abc of sacredness, without knowing anything about the eternal. Our intentions were good but our understanding was very small, almost negligible. So instead of marriage becoming something of a heaven, it has become a hell. Instead of becoming sacred, it has fallen even below profanity.
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