12/11/2022
Still Here. Still Writing.
When I celebrated my sixty-third birthday on December 8, I thought about a time when I wasn’t sure I would live to see another one.
Years earlier, a massive stroke had changed my life. My left side took the greatest impact. I couldn’t walk, and I had to relearn how to type. Before the stroke, I could type fifty words a minute. Afterward, I could manage twenty-five. For a writer, that loss reached beyond the keyboard.
Recovery took medical care, therapy, changes in how I ate and exercised, and the steady support of family and close friends. My faith helped me keep going, but there were days when I felt sorry for myself. Days when I wondered whether God was punishing me.
Over time, I began to see my life differently. I reconsidered the way I had been living and the things I had given my attention to. Through repentance and reflection, I found a deeper appreciation for what I still had—and whom I had beside me.
The effects of the stroke haven’t disappeared. My eyes still tear from the palsy that affected my face. Writing takes longer. Some things remain difficult.
But I am here.
I am blessed to share my life with a wonderful wife. I have family to love, words to write, and reasons to be grateful that I once took for granted.
I wish I hadn’t needed such a painful experience to understand what matters. But today, I know: love deserves our time. Family deserves our presence. And another birthday is a gift.
I may write fewer words a minute now. I have more reason than ever to make them count.
