In Response

I was sitting here and thought it was high time I replied to all of your comments.

First and foremost, I can never thank all of you sufficiently for caring enough and taking the time to read my ramblings and leave or email comments. I am absolutely convinced that your prayers, good thoughts, good humor, and positive energy are major reasons for my progress.

Even though I don't reply to the comments here and do not even always remember to reply to the emails, please know that I eagerly anticipate, read, and treasure every word.

That being said, I have to say a few things.

First, credit must be given where it is due. Yes, I've endured a lot and I have worked hard to come back. However, there are others who make my work possible and make it pay off.

First, I must thank The Lord for taking good care of me and surrounding me with such terrific people.

At the top of the list of those people is J. She puts in an incredible amount of time and effort to make sure I have clothes to wear, to help me get ready each day, to make sure everything is scheduled just right, to get me where I need to be, and so much more. She does things for me or because of me that she should never be asked to do, but she has done them, oftentimes without being asked and always without a single complaint. She is an amazing person and she deserves far more recognition for my recovery than anyone, especially me, has given her.

Next, I could not have made the progress I have without the efforts of the PT staff. They are a phenomenal bunch. They always seem to know what I need to do and how to get me to do it, regardless of how I feel that day. They challenge, encourage, motivate, and work me without being cruel or condescending. They also know when I'm having a bad day and we just have to take it a little easy without making me feel like some kind of failure for it. Every day I both look forward to and dread going, but by the time I leave there, I feel great, I'm glad I went, I don't want to leave, and I'm looking forward to the next session.

Last, but certainly not least, we have some incredible friends. They help me and they help J so she can help me. They will do anything J or I need, sometimes before we know we need it. They insist they aren't doing anything special, but without their loving and selfless support, our lives would be so much more difficult, I can't even imagine what it would be like.

Now some folks have called me a hero, a role model, etc. Don't take this the wrong way, but I am none of these things. The Marine that sacrifices himself for his buddies is a hero. The fireman that willingly enters a burning building is a hero. I'm just a guy trying to recover from a bad accident that was the result of a bad decision. I appreciate the sentiment, but it is completely misplaced to put me anywhere near the same level as the true heroes of this world.

That is not to say that I don't want this experience to have an affect on people. Just the opposite. If what I have been through has had any kind of positive influence on anyone in some way, then maybe...just maybe...at least a little good has come out of this mess. Maybe I can help someone to believe and trust in The Lord, to not give up, to stand up to adversity, or even just quietly persevere. If anything like that comes of this, that would be great.

So thanks, again, to everyone for the comments. The continuing outpouring of support has been truly humbling.

God bless you all.