9 December, 2017 I forget my first memory
I forget the first thing I remember after my brain injury. I forget the last thing I remember before it. One day I was riding my bicycle after work. Later I was in a hospital room at MCV. With casts on. And IV’s. There’s a week in between – I don’t know what went on.
It’s been almost thirty years since I was in that hospital room. In the hospital room I was a newly married college dropout. I’d owned my first home for less than a week. I had a full time office job with benefits. In the following year I lost my new marriage, my new home, my steady job. My sanity, for a month, give or take.
Now I have an MS in Rehabilitation Counseling. I run my own business, helping people with autism, TBI’s and other disabilities. I’ve finished eleven Ironman triathlons – swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles. I just paid off my home.
I still wear a brace on my leg. I have plates and screws in my arm. I have scars you can barely cover with a dollar bill. I sense the foundation of my current happiness is more solid than it was the day before my accident. Gratitude is my daily experience.