DAYS OF DAZE, Part I

When I sustained a traumatic brain injury in September 2010, it seemed as if the event crushed my entire life. All the activities that meant so much to me, that formed the basis of my identity, stopped on a dime. Early on, I knew I had to find the silver lining in the overwhelming darkness that had descended over me. I told myself that if I had to live through such a horrendous experience, I needed to have something positive to show for it.

One of my post-injury therapies was speech therapy. Because I was having difficulty expressing my thoughts through speech, my therapist encouraged me to keep a journal. “Maybe your way of expressing yourself to the world is through your writing,” she said. Her suggestion led me to the idea of writing a book about my brain injury. My neurologist also recommended that I write such a book. Thus, Days of Daze came into being.

But my most compelling reason for writing Days of Daze was to help myself process what I’d been through, and what I was still going through. I’d known from my career that writing is an excellent tool for working through difficult feelings. Writing the book most certainly helped with my emotional and spiritual healing in the aftermath of the trauma. I can only hope that the account of my experience will resonate with my readers who’ve been through their own trauma, and that it will help them in their healing process.

Recently, Mickey, a 92-year-old woman who attended my church, passed away.

She had read several of my books, including Days of Daze. A week or two after her death, her daughter approached me and said, “I just want you to know how much my mother enjoyed your work.”

The daughter’s words gave me a shot of encouragement, definitely brightening my day. Thank you for the affirmation, Mickey!