My Motorcycle Injuries

This is one of the years in which the day and the date of my motorcycle accident match the day and date in 2013. It was November 29th, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Early on I would attempt to commemorate the event each year by doing something unique such as attempting to donate blood. After a few years I determined to celebrate the anniversary of the accident by just living my life and having a normal day. The best proof of victory involves living well, yes? So, today I attempted to live well by doing what I ordinarily would do. I started by cleaning a little around the house and then taking care of a little bit of banking business. I then spent some time visiting a church member who is in the hospital. Next, I headed to the church property in order to get some work done within the church building for the services on Sunday. I spent the remainder of the day at a family event that involved eating, football, and playing various games. Nothing exciting or innovative, just...a normal and...

Christmas will be here in just under a week. This is always a very busy time of the year for me and my family. Things get a little hectic and demanding between ministry events, family activities and obligations, and our home in general. It’s been a bit of a ride, but I know that everything will work out well in the end. It’s a little odd how we take such a wonderful event in spiritual history and turn it into such a time of personal commotion. Human nature, I guess. My body has been telling me that it doesn’t appreciate all of the holiday activity, but I don’t really have the privilege of listening to it right now. I have far too much to do between today and next Wednesday. I’m thinking of taking a break more toward the weekend after Christmas, but I’ll have to wait and see what everyone needs from me before I lay me down to rest. I don’t really know why exactly, but my mind keeps drifting back to where I was at this time six years ago. I keep seeing mental pictures of the things that ...

Each year, on the anniversary of my motorcycle accident, I try to do something different to commemorate the event. It always ranges to some extent from meaningful to symbolic, but I try to do something that marks the day as being distinct. This year is a little unique because it’s the first time since the accident that the day and the date match; the day after Thanksgiving on Friday, November 29 th . So…I’ve been thinking of what I should do this year because the day actually matches the 2013 calendar. My decision? Do whatever I would ordinarily do throughout the normal course of the day. My reasoning this year is fairly simple. I had first thought that I would travel to the hospital and give doughnuts or something similar to the workers in the ICU and the stepdown ICU as a way of telling them that I haven’t forgotten the importance of the work that they do. Appreciation is always needed, right? But as I thought about it more, I decided that a better way to pass the day this year would...

Can I just start this post by stating that I feel really beat up and tired? Thanks. Between taking care of my 8 month old niece for over 9 hours a day on weekdays, doing some necessary landscaping at my house (when your wife mentions it from time to time for a few years, it becomes necessary), and the general condition of my post-accident body…yeah, I’m tired. The thing is that I can never be certain that it’s just the accident injuries and the ensuing diabetes that’s killing me so slowly. The accident occurred just about a month shy of 6 years ago. I was fifty years old then. That’s somewhere between the middle age to early-bird-special age brackets, right? I’m now 56. I mean, that’s like 9 in dog years, know what I’m sayin’?   So…I’m left wondering if some of my problems are age related as opposed to accident injury related. I just know that my wrist, hand, knee, shin, and hip hurt more than the rest of my body. By coincidence, those are some of the areas hurt when my bike ate th...

It was 5 years ago today that the accident occurred. My bike didn’t make it, but I did. So many great and wonderful things have happened in my life since, yet the memories of the early days after the accident remain quite vivid. Still, life really does go on, and it always will. The accident occurred on a return trip home after getting my haircut. I’m celebrating the day with a haircut later. Yes indeedy, I’m a party animal who tempts fate.

 A week from today (November 29 th ) marks the five year anniversary of the accident. It happened on the day after Thanksgiving in 2013, but this year the date falls on the week after Turkey Day. Still, the Thanksgiving holiday has always seemed strongly linked to the accident within my mind. It’s early morning now as I post this entry and in just a little while we’ll be going to a relative’s house nearby for the day. There will be fifteen of us this year and we will spend the whole day together eating, conversing, playing games, and watching TV. Many of the people that I will be with today were at the hospital or close by throughout the ordeal after the accident. I don’t really know what to think about this day beyond the obvious. I know that I will spend the day having a nice time with people that I love. I know that we will all be in a festive mood and several of us (not me) will be busy in preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I know that we will share aspects of our lives an...

The page from my 2013 desk calendar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Today marks the calendar date of the motorcycle accident. It’s been four years now. I have been feeling well lately (fatigued, but well) and I’ve stayed busy with responsibilities in the ministry along...

Today is one of two anniversaries related to my motorcycle accident. The first one, today, is the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a bit ironic to me that we call it Black Friday. The second one is the calendar date from 2013 which is November 29 th . Neither day really means that much to me, but it does remind me of where I am today in comparison to then. I don’t really remember much reality from the first week and a half after the accident and the day of the accident itself is almost a complete blank, so there isn’t much for me to think back on regarding the actual day. One thing that stands out in my mind is the progress that I have made over the past four years. It has been a journey that will seemingly never end. I remember that, from the time that I first became coherent until many months after the accident, my wife would tell me that I had been injured badly but I would recover fully. She would tell me this over and again in the hospital. Day by day I would lie in bed, endure the pa...