It Woke Me Up.....

         It was only a few years ago that I found myself lying in a drab olive-colored room full of mysterious people in sharp white dressings. I had just awoken to the feeling of the ocean swaying back and forth in my mind, and nebulous people searching over my body for something unknown to me. It wasn't until later that a complete stranger, whom I will never know, explained to me the details of that night. Although her words didn't make sense at the time, eventually the words pieced themselves together in small fractions: While walking to my car, I was struck by an oncoming vehicle causing me to be knocked unconscious and left alone in the street. Brain surgery, two black eyes, and a tibia implant later, I found myself out of work and learning how to move again. I couldn't drive myself around for three months, and I depended solely upon telephones and computers to keep myself from becoming deranged. I slowly found myself spending more time in the nook of my bedroom spilling words into the lap of my computer. Anything that I could remember, I wanted in writing, partially in fear that over time I may not remember anything.

            As time past, I began physical therapy to learn how to walk again post tibia implant, a task which wasn’t as easy as some may think. I tried my best to keep my brain entertained with puzzles and games, mostly over fear that my brain wasn’t going to function properly. It took me approximately a year and a half to feel completely normal again. No longer did I feel sharp shooting headaches, or walk with a limp. I was free to return back to work and most importantly back to school, which until that point in my life, I hadn’t put much effort into. It wasn’t until I experienced bleeding to the frontal lobe of my brain that I realized I wanted to do something more with my life. Something that mattered. Had I died that night, I never would’ve felt as if I had actually experienced, taught, learned, saw, and lived some of the best things in life. My traumatic brain injury, just may be, one of the best things to ever happen to me.