Life Keeps Rolling

“Let me tell ya ‘bout my best friend” Seriously though, what would life be like without dogs? And to appease any of my followers who are cat lovers I’ll say cats too... really just pets in general. I am here to tell you about the benefits of pet therapy. Before my injury, I saw pets as something to cuddle and play with. Growing up, I always had cats (thanks mom). Then in the army, I stayed with my friend who had a beautiful yellow lab / husky mix named Dixie. I would crash on the couch all the time and she would always sleep with me the whole night while I rubbed her tummy. That is where my love for dogs flourished.  While Kass and I were doing long-distance, we would discuss different breeds of dogs and talk about getting one when we lived together. We both agreed that we loved Australian Shepherd‘s and we picked  the name Kona based off of my favorite beer. I wasn’t sure when it would happen, but planning for the future was fun while I prepare to get out of the military. The...

Do you want to know what is incredibly boring? Sitting in a hospital room for a year and a half, that’s what. The first thing that I got back into to kill time in the hospital was gaming on my iPad. It all started years ago. Before I left for the Army, this little mobile game called Clash of Clans came out. I enjoyed it for the fact that I was broke and on my own so I could game on my phone. iPad / iPhone (mobile gaming): My Army buddies gave me hell, and rightfully so. I was too impatient with the app and would actually spend money on it. No F2P here… My Ranger Platoon had a “clan” together. At first it was a cool little way to build some camaraderie and it broke up some of the monotony of the slow days. We would mess around with it during down time but it quickly died off like most apps. But I still play to this day. Supercell created the game and my interests in mobile gaming really caught wind through them. My iPad was a godsend when I was bored in the hospital. It took a lot of...

If there is one thing that I hope you take away from my journey, it is that there is always something to strive for. Complacency can seem easy to embrace, especially after such a life changing injury. It would be too easy for me to sit around and mope about how I’ll never be strong enough to push myself in a wheelchair or that I’ll never be able to drive my own vehicle, etc. Well guess what... Here I am pushing myself in a chair. In a few weeks, I start driving rehab to get my van setup so I can drive again. I’m looking into college courses that interest me, after telling myself that I would never pursue a life that wasn’t based around the automotive industry.  When I first realized that my injuries weren’t going away, I made a mental list of short term, intermediate term and long term goals. Exactly how I did with my Squad Leader in Ranger Battalion. I was proud of myself for finding that real-world application for an Army skill. Something that I never knew would be so pivotal in ...