20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the day that changed my life. 

I was all set to write a long post about having brain damage and blah blah blah... No one wants to hear that and I don't want to write it anymore.  I decided a long time ago to not let the whole TBI thing define me, so why I keep dwelling on it escapes me.  I am what I am. 

So, instead I want to look back at what I've accomplished in the past 20 years.

I raised my daughter.  She was just shy of 5 months old when the accident happened.  And despite having to cope with some major difficulties, she survived to the age of 20.  She's out on her own, living her life, and from the sounds of it, succeeding quite nicely up there in the frigid wilds of Battle Creek.  I didn't forget her at the store.  I remembered to feed her and change her every day.  And for the first eleven years, I was pretty much a single mom.

I homeschooled her for the last 5.25 years of her education.  And when I was done, she got accepted to a major university.

I bought my own house in 1998.  We lived there for 3 years with nary a late payment - even if there were a few months there where mac & cheese was a mainstay in our diet.

I worked as a manufacturers' representative for five years, selling electronic components.  I had to remember routes and locations and names and faces for hundreds of people throughout southeast Michigan.  Plus, I had to interact with people from presidents of companies to engineers to assembly line workers, selling highly technical things like capacitors and wire and tools and EMI suppression devices.  I even got a cord I was selling designed in on those hot bags for pizza delivery.  I rocked.

For a while there, I did a little side work as a web designer.

Then I left and moved all over the country.  From 2001 to 2004, I lived in Michigan, Florida, Utah and then Colorado.  What a wild ride that was. Then last year, we made what ought to be our final move - to Missouri. 

Of course, almost 10 years ago, I met and married the man I was meant to be with all along.  We totally rock together.

Ten years ago, I also started writing books seriously.  I mean, I'd tried to write a few along the way before that, but I never finished one.  Now I have like 14 in various stages of finished.  Whoda thunk it?

I'm sure there are other accomplishments.  But hey, it's been 20 years, and I do have memory issues.  ;o)  Still, that's a whole lot to do and be proud of for a girl who wasn't expected to live, let alone be able to think and speak and walk correctly ever again.  Hell, I barely even limp anymore. 

So take THAT adversity.  Thought you could kick my ass?  Well, how d'ya like me now?