Blog Archives

The Beginning

4/30/2021

When I first met my wife, we would go to empty parking lots and dance the night away. I was not a good dancer at the time, so she taught me how to salsa. With that, I became more proficient and things went as they were. They started to mature and develop. Here we are today with two kids. What I liked about salsa dancing was the connection with my partner and the way we moved together and danced in unison. We were very close together. We were just so in touch with each other and the movements became second nature. We used the car speakers to blast salsa music and Shakira. Those are the moments I cherish and would like to resume one day.

Black Hole

4/23/2021

Having a brain injury makes it harder to do cognitive activities. People may define you as being lazy or not interested. I have news for people who think that it is me just being lazy because that is simply not the case. When I am playing a game with a group of people, it’s not that I’m not having fun or enjoying myself, it’s just that I’m not there fully. Just imagine yourself in a black hole and you’re waiting for something to happen and it never comes. I have felt this way ever since my injury and never felt like that before. I always come back to this, but I would like to reiterate, God will always show me the way, even though I cannot see. He will lead me. God is like the light in the black hole that leads me out of the darkness.

Recall

4/16/2021

On Tuesday we went over the note values, and today I was able to recall the value of the notes upon the first glance with one added. The quarter note has a value of one, a half note has a value of two, a dotted half note has a value of three, and a whole note has a value of four.

Being able to recall these notes so quickly demonstrates how my memory is improving. On Tuesday after we learned the note values, I was a little skeptical that I wouldn’t remember what I had just learned. It is moments like these that I need to continue to have to keep improving. I used to not be able to remember what I had for breakfast that morning, but now my memory has improved and I know I had four scrambled eggs. Now that my memory is improving, I want to incorporate more items into my daily meals to practice recalling the items.

Staying Active

4/9/2021

From this article I found, it says to “include physical activity in your daily routine, stay mentally active, socialize regularly, get organized, sleep well, eat a healthy diet, and manage chronic conditions”.
For physical activity, I mainly work on cardio. I work out everyday for at least an hour.
For mental activity, I read, write, work with my speech therapist on metacognition and being aware of my own thoughts, and play piano.
I don’t get to socialize as much as I would like to. I get to socialize over the computer, but it’s not the same as in person. We are social beings and I need more in-person interaction.
I make sure everything is clean and put away and keep it that way. That’s how I stay organized.
I try to go to bed at ten and wake up pretty early. I try to get the recommended hours of sleep but it doesn’t always work.
I would like to reiterate that I try to eat really healthy. If it grows naturally, eat it.
I’m thankful that I don’t have to manage chronic conditions in my life.

Realization

4/2/2021

Having a book feels surreal. The thought of initially starting this project was unfathomable. After two years I am finally seeing the final product and it is amazing. I have the final product in my hand. I am looking forward to my next adventure of the book launch. I do not expect to be the Harry Potter novelist, but I just hope it brings inspiration and guidance to someone going through this or their friends and family. My favorite part about writing this book was when I first started writing it. It was initially just short stories and poems, and just writing to write. With time, it developed into something more. It eventually turned into something that I looked forward to writing every day with Meredith. It was almost like being a child again and waiting to open Christmas presents, but in reality I went to my desk and started writing. What’s been challenging about writing the book is remembering the good times and not being able to share that with my family. I talk about not being with my family in the book and how hard that is. It was also very challenging to remember what I had written the previous day, so there was a lot of rereading. If there is something you want to do, just do it. Don’t give in to the “what ifs”. If someone were to have said to me two years ago, “you are going to have a published book that you wrote entirely”, I would have laughed and said “yeah right!” But look at me now, here with a physical copy of my published book.