Recovery Shtuff

When I first began contemplating the more personal content of this website, there was one thing I wanted to include
above all others--this page dedicated to those who saw me through those roughest years after my car wreck, written
in the hopes that others may take inspiration from my experiences, just as I took heart from the words of others.

A snippet from "Lysdexics Untie!" - an in-depth glimpse into my recovery:
"Before I begin, you may ask why I would give this detailed account of such a morbid subject? I suppose to dispel the
myth that drinking and driving is “no big deal.” But more importantly, to give some first-hand clarity on The Hidden
Injury (brain damage), and to offer support and encouragement to others in similar circumstances (either the injured or
those angels who support us). It was only from hearing accounts of other injured people that helped me see that I was not
losing my mind, I was not alone, and my life was not over. Sharing my experience for the benefit of others has really
helped to take the bite out of it and to put the focus where it should be—on the healing and moving on. Also, my
jumping up and down, singing halleluiahs and grinning like a goober later on will make more sense with a point of
reference from where I started."

You can find the full account on my Blog HERE.
..............Crash & Burn
..............Lysdexics Untie!
..............Techno-Medical Mumbo-Jumbo
..............Shimmer Wings
..............Two poems inspired by this subject: "Car Crash Back Lash" and "Surfacing"

Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you...If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you,
and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.
--Emmet Fox

This poem was written for me by a dear friend, student, and fellow dancer. I am blessed by such an honor…doubly blessed by her
friendship. There are more of her poems here.

January 20, 2001
By Janet S. Emmons

We all know you’re the best.
Your energy electrifies.
Your feet and legs shimmer across rooms pulsing with excitement.
Your fingers, graceful as cats’ tails,
Shoot swirls of color—
.......rainbow red
.......purple,
....... blue.
Whatever your imagination holds
Floats into our psyches
Like soft clouds of
lilac blossoms,
.......oriental poppies,
....... the healing scents of clove and olive.
Your arms, soft, supple whips.
Your spine, the driving power.
Long and serpentine,
It coils around the thick, fragrant air.
Uncoiling, it reveals your porcelain body—
Your mouth alive, your eyes alert with emotion,
Your adornment of precious hair…

The woman, they tell me,
Was arrested
After her drunken lunge into your car.

Your power was shaken—
Nothing broken, everything bent.
Your healing, for those who love you,
Is the most beautiful dance you have ever done.

“Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while
continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense
beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.”
--Dorothy Thompson

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that
helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience

daughter

dancing
laughing
soaring

SUDDEN IMPACT

spirit broken
body bruised and bent
laid out
hunkers down
shrouded in pain and darkness.

healing.

slowly, slowly
veiled wings unfold
move toward the light
fluttering softly

then soaring
laughing
dancing
daughter.

mine

--By Candy Prudhomme (my mother)
April 22, 2002

“…knowing love, I allow all things to come and go, to be as supple as the wind and take all that comes with great
courage…life is right in any case. My heart is as open as the sky.”
--from Mira Nair’s film Kama Sutra

MORE
.......For other stuff I've written, click HERE
.......For groovy dance poetry and sayings, click HERE
.......For other sites that really helped me in my recovery, check out my LINKS