Late 9/11 posting

Hi everyone. I do not feel the need to explain the lack of posts lately, as everyone already knows the answer. I do want to briefly talk about the 10th anniversary of 9/11. This day is one of a lot of tragedy and pain. I mark it as the 10th anniversary of my transformation and beginning of tremendous personal growth.

On 4am that day, I was in an ER because of pain I can only describe as being stabbed in the back with broken glass. I had a rash which originally I had thought was poison ivy as I had been in the woods earlier that day. It turned out it was shingles. I understand that on the scale of illnesses, it was minor but painful. The important part though was the pain. It was unlike anything I ever had experienced. It forced me to think of many things which I never wanted to confront. The ER doctor gave me percocet and I slept through a national tragedy.

I woke up hours later in an empty dorm and rushed out trying to make my last class of the day. I was not going to let a little shingles and opioids deter me from class. Campus was empty with no explanation. I thought it was a bad dream. I ran into someone who was walking around campus and asked what had been happened. I was shocked by the response. It took a number of days through my percocet induced haze to piece together everything. The event that happened in that ER however was still indelibly etched in my brain.

I confronted a huge fear I had when I was in that pain. I realized up until that point, I had disappointed myself and everyone around me. I needed to make things right. Up until then, I had no direction and placed no expectations on myself. From that moment forward came a transformation in every aspect of life. I attacked it with a ferocity never seen before. My grades skyrocketed and I became much more focussed in every other aspect as well. I give my prayers and thanks to the families of all the victims of 9/11, but it holds a deeper meaning for me too. It was the beginning of my new life.