The Foreign Service Journal, May 2019

36 MAY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS M y wife and I moved to Canada in 1998 with our two toddlers. It was a stressful relocation from the tropical breezes and sun of Haiti to the arctic winds of Ottawa. Between the moves in and out of temporary housing, it took quite a while to get settled and get used to our new home. In late 1999 and early 2000, I began to notice a twitch in my left hand. I also experienced painful leg cramps that woke me at night. These symptoms began to interfere with my writing (I’m left-handed) and my sleep. I had always been the picture of good health—active, athletic, clean eating and a non-smoker—so I wasn’t initially alarmed. I chalked these problems up to the tension and fatigue that accompanied a move to a new position, a new house and new country, all while raising two extremely energetic boys. But as the involuntary movements became more Paul Rohrlich is a retired State Department FSO whose recent posts include Paris, Reykjavík and Tel Aviv, where he was the environment, science, technology and health counselor. During 28 years in the Foreign Service, he also served in Kinshasa, Tokyo, Antananarivo, Port-au- Prince, Ottawa and Brussels. In Washington, D.C., he served in the Of- fice of Development Finance. He has authored several academic articles and co-authored the book Peace and Disputed Sovereignty (University Press of America, 2002). He is married to Susan Sandler, who is the deputy special envoy for Holocaust issues, and has two children. Optimism and determination saw this FSO through a career he loved after being diagnosed with a debilitating illness. BY PAUL ROHRL I CH ON PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMATS: LEADERSHIP & LESSONS ManagingMedical Challenges in the FS Parkinson’s Story My