I got two numbers from two different people: 4 and 8. So Ill average them and write 6 things about myself you may not know. Like my status and Ill give you a number. 1). When I was 2 (Finns age!) my mom left me in the car while she ran into the house for something, and I drove the car through the front wall into the living room. When my frantic mom wrenched the door open, she found me unscathed, and very proud of myself. Mommy, Trixie drive car! I am reported to have said. I dont actually remember this event. 2). I have been afraid of heights for most of my life... So afraid that at one point I couldnt so much as climb a stepladder. I partially healed this fear by convincing one of my clients to take me rock climbing. I got about 5 feet up the cliff and froze for about an hour. Finally I couldnt hold on any longer. When I fell, I only dropped a couple of inches before the rope caught me. This convinced me more than all my friends talking that I was safe, and I climbed the remaining 25 feet in about 5 minutes. It was exhilarating! I havent felt the need to go rock climbing since. I am still very respectful of heights but I can climb stepladders now! 3). I believe the reason I had such a phobia of heights is that when I was 3 I fell from the top of a slide 6 feet onto concrete and landed on my head. I have a very hard head, apparently. This is what I remember: playing mommy and baby on top of the slide with my sister, Sonja. Sonja attempting to push me down the slide before I was ready. The sense of losing control as I went over the edge. The utter terror of falling through the air. Waking up on a metal table with a bright light shining on me. Waking up at home in my parents bed. Having to play puzzles with my sister when I really just wanted to go back to the park. Having a big white bandage around my whole head. Never ever ever wanting to go on a slide again. 4). It took me many years to learn how to tell left from right. I still have to think very hard about it. Same with telling time on a round clock. I think I was a teenager before I could read a clock accurately. When I first learned to write, I wrote everything in mirror image. I can do complex math equations in my head, but I cant do them on paper and I cannot explain to you how I get my answers. I have no sense of direction whatsoever and get the compass points mixed up. I have to go to a place 3 to 7 times under my own power before I know how to get there. If I dont go back for a year or more, I have to relearn the directions. I have no memory for faces or names. I am forever embarrassing myself by not recognizing people I know very well. When I had been dating Mark for over a year, I went on a trip and he came to pick me up from the airport. I didnt recognize him. I recently learned that all of these things are symptoms of traumatic brain injury. I think it was the slide incident. It was such a relief to find that out! I always thought I was just dumb. Now I wonder what my life would be like if that hasnt happened. 5). I have been in 5 car accidents and injured my neck in at least 4 of them. 2 of these accidents, entirely unrelated and 5 years apart, took place in the exact same spot on I-70 outside of Walnut, IA. In the first, I was a passenger and we slid on the ice and rolled the truck. In the second, I was the driver and the drive wheel fell off our ford econoline van. We spun a 180 and landed in the median. In both cases the same tow truck came for us and took us to the same garage. In the second accident, the people at the garage recognized me from the first accident 5 years prior. I didnt recognize them, because, you know, my brain thingy. When we left, they gave me their card and said next time you get to the border of Iowa give us a call, well have the tow truck ready for you. I havent been back to Iowa since then. 6). In the first Iowa accident, I wasnt wearing my seatbelt. I had been sleeping when the accident started to happen. I woke to the chaos of a rolling vehicle. I saw the road and grass and sky spinning at impossible angles. I felt my body floating around in the cab, my head hitting things, but nothing hurt. I knew I was dying. I felt very peaceful, and at the same time both exhilarated and melancholy. I know this doesnt make sense but there it is. It was like I was about to embark on the most exciting adventure imaginable, but at the same time I felt sad to be leaving family and friends behind. I knew my death would hurt my parents terribly, and I felt very sorry for that, but still interested and somehow more alive and well than I can ever remember being. Then the truck stopped rolling and my friend asked if I was ok. I said yeah! in amazement. Then get OFF me! he yelled. I had landed right on top of him. I didnt start feeling pain for about 2 hours. I havent stopped feeling pain since.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 06:32:23 +0000
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