March is brain injury awareness month. The goal this month is to make people more aware of the causes, symptoms and prevention of traumatic brain injuries. I recently read that over 3.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. My wife Shelly just surpassed the 6-year anniversary of her injury. Her life has … Continue reading My Wife’s Mask for the Unmasking Brain Injury Project
It always starts in October. I can smell and taste it in the air. The dread, anxiety and anticipation of early November starts to loom. The older I get I am always amazed how quickly it seems to come around. It's been 28 years now. Twenty-eight years since my life was turned upside down by … Continue reading This Time of Year
Every year I share my personal 9/11 story. It's an amazing story that really does deserve to be shared. It involves Mike, my best friend since 2nd grade. In 2016 our story was told by Mike Rowe on his “The Way I Heard It” podcast. The episode was called “You Don’t Know Mike”. It went viral and … Continue reading An Amazing Story of Baseball, Beer and Friendship on 9/11
I have been asked to be a recurring contributing writer for Love What Matters, a widely followed site that shares inspiring stories daily. Their editor asked me to write an updated combination of my blog pieces My Story and The Reality of Time. It was published yesterday to a big response. I thought I would share it here too, as it has really … Continue reading The Truth About Time
The 4th of July always was such a special day at our house. Shelly loves to entertain and she is so good at it. Each year we would host a fantastic party with friends and family. It was a day that Shelly would look forward to like no other. She would do so much planning … Continue reading Making New Traditions on the 4th of July with PTSD
In a few weeks it will be 25 years since I moved away from Bakersfield, California to Western Kentucky. One of the most difficult things was saying goodbye to Dana’s parents (Dan and Mary). I had become very close with them in the 2 and a half years since Dana had died. But I knew … Continue reading The Upstairs Room
Over twenty-seven years ago my world was shattered in an instant by a careless driver. I have chronicled here in this blog how I have put the pieces of my life back together over the past quarter century. As I have put my life back together, my amazing immediate family consists of my wife, Shelly, … Continue reading Fear is a by-product of Grief
I have been numbers driven as far back as I can remember, whether in my business or personal life. In my journey since Dana’s death, there have always been many different dates and numbers playing out in my head. Sometimes comforting, other times maddening! An early example of this is that I was aware when … Continue reading The 10,000th Day
As I have continued moving forward on my long and twisting path since losing Dana, I have finally let much of the negativity go. The most damaging, long-lasting side-effect from the trauma came from the cruelty of judgment. As I described in "My Story", much of my remaining anger, rage and resentment departed as we were … Continue reading Let the Widowed Move Forward Without Judgment
The five-year anniversary of my wife Shelly’s traumatic brain injury just passed last week. Her life, and our entire family’s life, was forever changed in a split second on that cold day in January of 2013. We had a freak accident happen within our home. A home-made bottle of ginger ale was taken from … Continue reading My Wife’s Inspiring Battle With Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD
