In a few weeks, with any luck, I will graduate from JMU's MS DLVE-SLP program. Currently I am driving to the VA hospital in Richmond where I am finishing up my fifth practicum experience, this one at the VA Polytrauma Center. The experience has been awesome albeit challenging. Therapy requires a great depth of knowledge along with a quickness that doesn't always come easy for me. I work under a younger clinician who is mightly self-assured. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, especially when the old dog's brain is a little compromised. I struggle with chronic pain from neuropathy, auditory processing deficits, and a jumble of executive function-related residual issues. In sum, I'm slow . . . but sure I need to work with the brain injured in some way so that I can share what I've learned and help others avoid the pitfalls I've experienced. I think I can, I think I can.
I am 58 years old and this will be my third master's degree. I'm about to start something new because I want to help others who live with brain injury and because I can't go back to museums or marketing. Wish me luck . . . and the ability to compensate more effectively with the residuals confounded now by the affects of aging.
Now I let go and meditate on things that are higher. The great, explosive, gaseous, buring sun will come up tomorrow and I will breathe in from it a reserve of strength that comes from knowing that the world, the universe that holds me in its force field is mighty. I go forth humbly, a mere mortal speck, putting one foot in front of the other. I will do my best. I cannot alter the ancient and powerful forces that swirl around me with so much surety. I can only strive to be at one with the force.
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