7

7 years. It feels like it’s been so much longer, but also feels like it was yesterday.

I relive that day every year.

10:00. I’m going to Target with Heather and Eric right now.

1:00. We’re stopping at Chipotle.

I remember Costco. Being exhausted at Target. I remember getting in my car and driving to the gym. Most strikingly, I remember the flat tire on my road bike and deciding to go for my 20 laps at the pool instead.

Then, feeling weird in the middle of a lap; the water swallowing me; choking on liquid next to the pool; being on a stretcher flying down the hall of the YMCA.

I want to go back to that pool each year. I’m not a member there anymore, though.

It’s like life began again in that second lap lane from the right; my memory wiped clean and being physically reduced back to infancy.

Adam with panic in his eyes over every single fall, every emotional outburst. What would I be without him? He rescued me after the stroke, became my hero then more than ever.

My friends sitting next to various hospital beds. Crystal holding a Subway sandwich. Why do I remember that so clearly?

Now life is different – in the best ways. And as I look back, i can’t help but think that I’m so damn lucky.

Here’s to another year. Cheers.