Counting Blessings

Everyday is a gift and there are blessings everywhere.

 I had to learn that the hard way. I took for granted a lot of aspects of my pre-paralyzed life. The ability to walk, talk, move, breathe. You never stop to think about these simple commodities. Well, that’s all I can think about now. I am consumed by them. I see small blessings in my life now, that otherwise would have gone unnoticed to me. 

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Family: 

I have never known what a bad family atmosphere was like. I grew up with two great brothers and two loving parents that also came from close, loving families. I never thought of it as a blessing, to me it was just normal. But it really showed it’s importance when push came to shove. 

Years before I was shot, my twin brother had the choice to choose which Ranger Battalion he wanted to go to. Instead of choosing the Army base that is on a beach in Savannah Georgia, he chose rainy Washington to be stationed with me. On top of that, he let me live in his apartment for free to get me out of the Army barracks. Zach and Hannah gave me a sense of home all the way out in Washington. As I prepared to leave the Army, my parents set up the basement of their house as a little apartment for me to have a place to stay until I was up on my feet. I tell you this just to paint a small picture of my parents.

 My dad is a no-nonsense go-getter and my mom is your stereotypical angelic mother figure. When I was having a rough time in the hospital, my go to was my dad. He would give it to me straight, but he had this way of doing it that made me want to fight harder. He motivated me and wasn’t afraid to give me tough love when I needed it. I am sure that it was hard but I definitely needed it at the time. It was a tough time for all but my dad kept his composure and was my symbol of strength, whether he knew it or not. 

My mom... where to begin. She is the most selfless woman that I know. She turned to her faith with all of the chaos around her and helped talk me through my stages of grief. She closed her daycare down for 8 months so that I wouldn’t be alone in the hospital. She was there with me throughout my lowest of lows. She watched and helped as I relearned how to eat food and helped me through therapy. Some nights (most nights) she would sleep in the hospital bed across from me so that I could yell to her if I needed something. I was often very short and nasty to her because I was frustrated with something that was ultimately about me. She took it all in stride and in hindsight, I see just how resilient my mom was and is. She maintained her poise and faith like a angel. 

Jake and Alexis visited regularly with their daughter and my niece Evelyn. They went out of their way to make sure that I felt at home, wherever I was. I made a bet with Ev that I would beat her with walking. She runs laps around me now. I can’t thank them enough for bringing family to me, and with it, a sense of normalcy.

This of course just pertains to my immediate family. Kass’s family, whom I consider family are all equally important to me. Each of them is a blessing to me but this post would quickly turn into a novel if I hit on specifics. All I can say is thank you and I love you all.

Family... what a crazy blessing. 

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Friends and community: 

The town of Hudson sure has treated me well. I was raised playing baseball and later swimming. I grew up with a bunch of friends throughout school and sports. In later life I made even more friends in the Army. I never thought of myself as cool or popular but I must have done something right growing up because the community support has been unparalleled. To wake up and see a Go Fund Me account with an absurd amount of money raised for me and my family was insane. So many people donated. School classmates and peers that I didn’t even know knew I existed, local businesses, cops, family, friends of friends, strangers from all over the country. It was insanely humbling. What had I done to earn this? 

The town put together a bunch of fundraising events for me, all with huge turn outs. The first one that I was able to attend was a motorcycle ride led by the riding club that I’m in “The Deplorables”. It was put together by the Hudson Police Department and involved a police escort by Massachusetts troopers to lead me into town. The turnout and support was unreal, I was so humbled and overwhelmed. There were a lot of other town events like a spaghetti dinner, a corn hole tournament, a meat raffle etc. I was only healthy enough to attend a few at the time but seeing this level of support from my community was unreal. I see it every week actually when the number of views on my blog shoot up! You all are so incredible and your support means more to me than you will ever know. You are all my blessing.

I have never had issues making friends. I had a lot of good friends in school but I had a close-knit group that I spent most of my time with. I left for the Army when they went to college, but we always stayed in touch. They would check in while I was in Afghanistan and I would visit and go to parties when ever I came home on leave. As we all get older and branch out, our group leaves. Some are living in Nashville, TN, some are in school in Texas and some have wanderlust (come home to me Chris 🤙). My friend group is the kind of group that can pick up wherever we left off like nothing has changed, not even me being in a wheelchair. I am so appreciative of you all! I love you guys! 

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Kass: 

*Reference my last post*

The fact that the woman that I fell in love with also happens to be the same woman that has an unreal amount of fight in her is a blessing. To Kass, it doesn’t matter that I am paralyzed. What matters is that I give a shit about my life, our life together and that I never stop trying to improve myself and our relationship. The blessing here is that God gave me a woman that loves so compassionately no matter what. I love you babe. 🙂 

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Your body 💪: 

You would think that this would be a no-brainer for me, right? Oooh the paralyzed kid misses his body? I look back and realize how much of a blessing my body was. It is so hard to not think about it and let it consume me. Instead of thinking about how much of a blessing it was, I think about how much of a blessing it is. I can do things as a C4 Quadriplegic that I anatomically shouldn’t be able to do. If the bullet hit one inch higher, I would be breathing on a machine 24/7. An inch higher than that and I could be brain dead. If the bullet hadn’t hit my spine and had gone out the back of my neck, more than likely I would have bled to death. So was it a blessing that my spine decided to intercept the .45 slug? I sure as shit don’t know. I’m alive aren’t I? So you tell me. 

The stars aligned and I am here today. I have a lot of messages to pass along now and I hope that this one will stop you in your tracks. Take some time to notice the little blessings that you may be missing. They are everywhere, disguised as different things for different people, but believe me, they’re out there. 

God Bless 🙏