The more I talk to people about my stroke and the more I talk to other stroke survivors, I become more convinced of how important it is for me to never shut up about it. It has become my job to show anyone asking about or apologizing for my stroke that life does go on after a "traumatic" health incident; That stroke survivors are not only old men, that we are not all confined to wheelchairs, drooling on ourselves. When some one tells me they're sorry that this happened to me, it is my duty to stand up and say that I'm not sorry. Ever. And to tell them why: I love my life more now than I did before, I see the beauty in people and things more clearly than did before, I get to spend more time with my daughter than I would have and I accept myself more fully and lovingly than I ever have.
My hope is that The more I flap my trap about this, that someone will remember talking to me when facing a seemingly hopeless situation and drag themselves out of the depths because of something I said to them, or, maybe my words and the lessons I've learned through this experience will reach someone who is in the same place I was three years ago and maybe, just maybe, they wont give up on life.
