My first time...

So...this will be my first blog in "blog land". Hello Blog Land!! Who am I? Not really sure to be honest. I am a person, a mother, a wife, a child, a daughter, a co-worker, and a friend...I'm sure I am more than those titles can describe, but those terms dictate some of what I am. My name is Melissa. I am 39, soon to be 40 in a few months. I have 3 kids, all of them nearly grown. Oldest son is 20 and serves in the war in Iraq. Middle daughter is "almost 18 in 3 months, 3 days, 2 hours"...blah blah blah....youngest son is 14 and happy to be that way. I am a wife to a man who is constantly driven to attend school and become more than who he is. He is not happy with his life nor with me, at least that is my perspective. Someday he will probably move on, leaving me in this shadow of his that I live in. I live in many shadows. The shadow of my husband, the shadow of my children, the shadow of my father's death. My father died of Lou Gehrig's disease, commonly known as ALS. In other words, a killer with no cure. My father was the 6th person of 8 who have died of this disease (just in our family). I also will fight the ALS shadow...for it is with me and has been since the day I was conceived. I am a carrier. Technically known in the scientific community as a "SOD1 A4V" gene. Sounds exciting just saying it, huh?! Well, this will be the end of my first blog. Maybe my only blog, who knows??!!