April 13, 2025, It has been a rather hard day. I did go to the ER. There was blood. I’m ok, but it got me thinking.

 I’m Not Rupert Giles

You know when a television character

Gets bonked on the back of the head

And they go unconscious with one blow?

Don’t believe it

I’ve hit the back of my head hard

Most dramatically hitting a piano, a speaker, and then concrete

Once tripped backwards and hit a big rock,

In a car accident, I got hit in the back of the head 

with a heavy plywood sign that was behind the driver's seat,

I fell and hit the back of my head

On the corner of my kitchen island

Last winter, I slipped on ice 

and hit my head hard on a stone stairway

And also got plowed into by someone

Fell into my bathtub and hit the ceramic soap dish

Glued to the wall

Shattering it with my head

Never once were there stitches

Concussions, three times,

Blood every time,

I didn’t pass out with any of them

Hurt immediately

I remember them

Because pain will do that for you

You remember what you did

How you did it

And how it felt

The memory of how it feels

It isn’t like on TV

Where you get up,

rub your head a little bit,

and bounce back to fight

or plot or plan your revenge

I sit, assess, maybe go to the ER

It slows me down

To heal and reveal

Why it happened

And what is next

In this journey of healing