Dear Alison

Dear Alison,

I likely remember you more than you remember me. We met at Cafe Rio, I was awkward, you were awkward, we bonded over where to get the “good ice” and life went on. Fast forward a few years and your empire grew, I built my career, and we both experienced ups and downs. I don’t always have time to keep up, but every once in a while, I check in. I saw you build, I saw you hurt, and now I don’t see much of you at all. I know you’ve shut down for repairs and I am a thousand-percent in your court on that one, but you’ve been on my mind. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure why, I’m not sure what to do about it, but something prompted me to this.

Life can be brutal and unforgiving sometimes. It can be absolutely unfair and obnoxious. It can be a nuisance, messy, and absolutely inconvenient. Spend one day in the Mental Health division downtown and you realize just how awful a hand some people are dealt. Sometimes they create the problem all by themselves but that doesn’t make it any more bearable.  You got hit by a CAR and that SUCKS. I won’t sugar-coat it it’s ugly, you’re not ugly, but I’m sure your x-rays weren’t so pretty.

I had a professor in college start every SINGLE class with “it’s great to be here.” Whether you seem to be winning or losing at life at any particular moment, in any particular situation, the spirit of “it’s great to be here” will carry you through. Say it until you believe it. You know what, Alison? It is GREAT to be here and I think it’s GREAT that you’re still here also.

You were hit by a CAR and the car did not win. The car didn’t take away your opportunity to say, “it’s great to be here.” My uncle wasn’t so lucky, my friend Joey, wasn’t so lucky, and I’m sure you know that you’re lucky. It is hard to be broken, feel broken. More so when physical therapy is aggravating and hurts sometimes as bad as the injury itself.  I know, I’ve been there. But hey, we’re all a little broken. Seabiscuit was broken and he still went on to win TONS of races.

I was sad to see that you feel that you can’t post because you can’t give 100% of yourself. I don’t think any of us need 100% of you. We don’t even know what to do with 100% of ourselves. Again, shutting down for repairs is a great idea. I do it also when life gets busy, when times get tough, and sometimes when my work becomes so dark it drags a piece of my soul with it. Shut down for repairs, contemplate the universe, but do not think you’re any less than 100% of yourself. A broken vertebra does not make a broken soul, neither do two broken vertebrae.

You’re right, as bloggers we don’t show the bad as much as we show the good. Some don’t show the bad at all. With the world that we live in today, why fill it with negative thoughts when we could flood it with positivity? That being said, I sometimes like to show the struggle, the real, I appreciate you for sharing that with us because I feel like it’s an example to those suffering that there are downsides for everyone and upsides that follow. As bloggers, we get to follow the counsel of the great Walt Whitman, whom I’ve quoted WAY too much in my lifetime. ”