The year was 2014.

I was 63.

Cruising gently down route A1A, listening to an oldies station, my right hand resting on the shift lever, my fingers were lightly drumming to the music.

The music and drumming stopped. Almost. My right ring finger kept bouncing to a tempo all its own.

Over the next few years that finger tremor came and went.

Arthritis settled in to my joints as the years passed.

My arthritic knees severely curtailed standing and walking.

I was told to get total knee replacements.

A swollen prostate was also found to be cancerous.

My sight dwindled because I developed cataracts.

The arthritis pain in my back was severe osteoarthritis.

I was also diagnosed with degenerative disk disease.

I fell on my right shoulder and was advised to get a total shoulder replacement.

I developed a few skin cancers.

The tremor turned out to be Parkinson’s Disease.

I had been a self employed landscaper a family man with a truck, a big heart and a helping hand.

In my late thirties I became a Shrine clown, then a professional: Mo The Clown,

Serving up a Slice of Life Buttered with Balloons.

I felt like I had become a super hero.

I could do good deeds by entertaining folks with balloons, smiles and laughter.

I had a good run, rewarded with over thirty years of amusing people.

My hands gave out just as the Pandemic Lockdown began.

Wrists and thumbs, painfully arthritic, made my position clear: I was no longer a balloon entertainer.

When I could no longer perform my life changed dramatically.

We made a decision to join our two kids and new grand daughter in the Pacific Northwest rainforest.

We downsized, sold our Campton New Hampshire home, and moved to the rural village of Glacier Washington.

It is a sixty to ninety minute one way trip from Glacier to medical care.

The Parkinson’s anti tremor medication destroyed my teeth.

I lost all of my uppers and (so far) most of my lowers.

I had the cataracts fixed.

I had the skin cancers removed.

I declined the shoulder surgery, opting for long term physical therapy.

I had one knee replaced.

Shortly after that, my prostate issue became critical.

The required prostate surgery was postponed because of Hurricane Helene’s damage to the IV fluid plant in North Carolina.

I spent 49 weeks, rather than a few days, tethered to a catheter. Ugh.

These medical intrusions came at high costs, physical, financial, emotional.

A lifetime of work and saving had gone in to the New England home we had sold.

Our money was leaking out of our account like a a tire with a nail in it.

I could not afford dental implants, let alone a house.

I thought about changing my clown name from Mo to Gummo…

Through all this I never forgot something I learned while clowning.

Laughing and smiling makes us feel better.

Helping others to laugh and smile feels even more so.

We spent what was left, before it all disappeared, on a small property.

Now we will create a home somehow.

The we I use refers to Suzanne, the amazing, loving girl, wife, life partner, muse, mom, guide, and love of my life.

How long have we been married?

Not long enough…

This year we celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary.

God provides solutions.

One must listen with an open mind, a believing heart.

We believe.

Please help us build our house with any donation, whether with blessings, dollars or both.

Thank you,

Lester and Suzanne Schwartz