Saturday, October 22, 2016
Survival Day 2016...11 years
Eleven years ago today I didn't die. All of us have those moments in our lives where we look back at the stupid things we did in our youths and say "I can't believe I survived all the stupid things I did..." or "I could have died when that happened..." but hopefully very few reading this have an actual moment in which they weren't doing anything out of the ordinary and the universe stuck it's foot in your path, possibly ending your life, and if you survive, forever altering the trajectory you were previously traveling.
I have that moment; the universe stuck its foot (or perhaps its ample ass) in my path in the form of a sixteen year old driver with no experience behind the wheel. I DIDNT' DIE. I suffered terrible pain and the loss of both legs, but I DIDNT' DIE. Several brave souls, random people whose skills were anything but random in regards to what I needed at that moment, risked everything to ensure that I DIDN'T DIE. During my recovery I tried to reclaim my "pre-disability" life and learned that path was no longer viable. I went another direction, and that direction led me here.
My eleventh survival day I awoke thinking about my tenth, as last year I decided not to spend the day in insightful solitude (as has been my decade long preference), but rather surrounded myself with "my people" (burn survivors and amputees and other people with disabilities...traumatic gifts of the flames that forever altered us) at the world burn congress. This year, unlike any year previous, I awoke laying next to my wife. This year, rather than sequestering myself, once again I am surrounded by others, but these are my step children...and my step dog. This year, my eleventh survival day shall be spent with my family, and friends, and even some strangers as we venture off to Owen county to spend the afternoon and evening in the woods...at the place where my friends gathered for my Bachelor Party in April...where many are gathering to enjoy this beautiful fall day.
I know I haven't written much this year...in fact I haven't written since New Years Eve, but please know that I'm still here. Other priorities have required my focus this year. I'm married now...that happened in May...and now have a modern family of my own, and thanks to those living angels who ensured I didn't die, and the divine spirit that coordinated their efforts and the efforts of those healers who administered my care from that night forward, I get to spend today with them.
I have that moment; the universe stuck its foot (or perhaps its ample ass) in my path in the form of a sixteen year old driver with no experience behind the wheel. I DIDNT' DIE. I suffered terrible pain and the loss of both legs, but I DIDNT' DIE. Several brave souls, random people whose skills were anything but random in regards to what I needed at that moment, risked everything to ensure that I DIDN'T DIE. During my recovery I tried to reclaim my "pre-disability" life and learned that path was no longer viable. I went another direction, and that direction led me here.
My eleventh survival day I awoke thinking about my tenth, as last year I decided not to spend the day in insightful solitude (as has been my decade long preference), but rather surrounded myself with "my people" (burn survivors and amputees and other people with disabilities...traumatic gifts of the flames that forever altered us) at the world burn congress. This year, unlike any year previous, I awoke laying next to my wife. This year, rather than sequestering myself, once again I am surrounded by others, but these are my step children...and my step dog. This year, my eleventh survival day shall be spent with my family, and friends, and even some strangers as we venture off to Owen county to spend the afternoon and evening in the woods...at the place where my friends gathered for my Bachelor Party in April...where many are gathering to enjoy this beautiful fall day.
I know I haven't written much this year...in fact I haven't written since New Years Eve, but please know that I'm still here. Other priorities have required my focus this year. I'm married now...that happened in May...and now have a modern family of my own, and thanks to those living angels who ensured I didn't die, and the divine spirit that coordinated their efforts and the efforts of those healers who administered my care from that night forward, I get to spend today with them.
