Life Off The Trails

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My Daughter’s Journey: A Story of Traumatic Brain Injury (Part II: Grief and Loss)

This is the second part of my daughter Melissa’s journey through traumatic brain injury (TBI). The beginning of this journey can be found here. In this section I address grief and loss, and how and when that occurred for me. Grieving is a funny thing (not literally), because just when you feel you’ve reached the end, that place of acceptance, you may suddenly find yourself back at one of the earlier stages. What a long, strange trip it’s been (thanks...

My Daughter’s Journey: A Story of Traumatic Brain Injury (Part I)

I sit here at my computer contemplating hitting the “publish” button with tears in my eyes and heaviness in my heart. Writing and rereading this was difficult to do, but a reminder to me and my husband of why our daughter is here with us, and why we continue to do what we do, fight for what is best for her, feed, bathe, clothe and care for her every need daily. It is because we love her and promised to always keep her best interest in mind that...

Growing Our Family Through Adoption

The decision to adopt was an easy one.   The process of adoption was much more difficult.  The bureaucracy, the agencies, the paperwork, the discussions, the classes, the prying into our personal lives, proved to be exhausting.  The final payoff though, was worth every agonizing moment.  Our Social Worker quietly whispered to my husband and I that she would like to see us in her office after the group concluded.  My thoughts raced, Could there be a problem? Did we get...

Groundhog Day

It’s Groundhog Day which is a day that has significance to me. In the classic movie, Groundhog Day, the main character, Phil, a weatherman, wakes up to report if the groundhog sees his shadow. However, for him every new day turns out to be Groundhog Day over and over again. He becomes stuck in a seemingly endless loop, repeating the same things he did the previous day. He’s rude and arrogant, reeks of sarcasm and contempt for the world, and simply...

Filling My Toolbag

We all have shadows, secrets, real-life junk that we don’t talk about or share–the dark or shadow side of our lives. Today I’m seeing the shadow side as something that merely exists. It’s a part of us that we accept, but hope to change, and find ways to turn into a lighter aspect of life. As part of my journey here, I am going to share some of my own dark places, and how I’ve used them to gain strength...

I Believe

I pulled up to the Post Office yesterday and saw a man with a long white beard, thinning hair, wide and round around the middle wearing a red shirt, suspenders and a broad smile on his face. I thought to myself “It’s Santa”. He went into the Post Office ahead of me and took care of his business on one side of the building while I walked over to take my place in a very long line, where many of us...