first, welcome to kablpomo! or as jane likes to call it: kaBLAMo.

this year we’ve got some variety throughout the week:

• meme monday
• review tuesday
• word wednesday
• throwback thursday
• foodie friday
• caturday
• short story sunday

6/7 of these are the same as last year, but i wanted to throw in a short story opportunity in there so i can expand my disturbing holiday stories. so welcome to kablpomo 2018!

*****

the first day of kablpomo lands on throwback thursday, and i hemmed and hawed about what my topic would be for today before deciding to reflect back on charlie’s accident for a little bit. not the bad stuff; hopefully all good stuff. it’s especially nice to reflect on this because we know he’s alive and kickin it best he can.

i talked to charlie today because i knew he had deleted his facebook and had the sudden thought that if he hadn’t downloaded his data beforehand, he would lose all the notes and stories that people wrote on his FB while he was in his coma (and afterward). thankfully he’d downloaded the giant file and still had all the things people said.

that’s what i like to focus on when i think about his accident, all the things people had to say about what a great dude cha is. on tuesday something triggered the feeling three years ago. it came and passed pretty quickly (sort of like how i suddenly get excited for christmas but then it goes away), but it was something i hadn’t had happen to me in a while.

but then i think about the response from people he knew – people his sisters knew – strangers who only knew charlie through others – and it’s such calming feeling.

here’s what i know: if the situation had to happen, what happened was the best possible outcome one could hope for. the best part of the week after halloween 2015 was standing in jane’s driveway getting a phone call from rae telling us that charlie woke up out of his coma and knew who they were.

and i know it’s been hard for charlie. as much as a person can be affected by an event like that, life goes on and i know for me, his accident is not something i think about on a daily basis. but for him, it’s now his life. it’s constant fatigue and medication changes that screw everything up and figuring out how to remember stuff. i try to imagine if my life were changed as profoundly as this, unexpectedly. how would i cope? how would i deal with this new reality? it’s unfathomable to me.

but he’s here and working to get better every day- and compared to the alternative? tons better!