# 10Measure thrice cut once

Well I have taken this old carpenter adage and adapted it to be my new mantra in life. Even for a task as simple as crossing the street, I look twice to the left and once to the right-while doing that ,I’m reciting in my mind,” left OK, right OK”. Time to cross? No! With the short term memory cross-wired- by the time I’ve gone through this scenario, I feel I had better do it again to be certain, I bruise easily. So welcome to my world – a lot going on upstairs, with less room to process it all.
This little story should be profoundly understood by the caretakers, family, friends and significant (or insignificant) others of those effected by ABI . We have worked hard, some much harder than others, to recover from our initial injuries. While in the hospital, I could barely wait to get home and resume my previous life. There was a pecking order of responsibilities, learn to talk more coherently, walk longer distances and straighter- I tended to veer toward the left [thus my email address’ namesake]- I’ll let you know sometime later, and establish a network of outpatient medical services. The Good news is/was that in a relatively short period of time-on the outside we appear to have made it, turned the corner, and on our way to assume life at the point where we left it temporarily a short time ago. But wait-who’s that guy standing on the street corner turning his head back & forth, left to right as if he’s watching McEnroe give Connors a lesson at Wimbledon. He looks to be OK. I thought so too-I went back to a community college to dip my toes in academia’s waters once again. Having survived relatively unscathed- I decided to go ballistic and get my Masters.
The point of the above diatribe that I am feebly attempting to make is that if left to our own devices and with proper support and guidance, we can make it, succeed and not only return to some semblance of our former selves, but a transformation well beyond that demarcation. Your caretakers, helpers should have a sense of this motivation and desire, be on the same team and they should take advantage of support groups available to assist them with their losses, which can be just as profound as yours. We, the ABI’rs can get too caught up in our own processes and recovery, sometimes failing to recognize the impact our plight has had on those close to you. I was and did.
In a rather poignantly timed, during the holiday season, my very significant other, my private muse decided that my recovery was probably not adequate enough for her own needs. So I spent the Christmas weekend taking sips of a dry shiraz and listening to Joni Mitchell songs-there are no rivers to Skate away on in San Diego

i think i need to completely retune my guitar
Michael