March 17th, 2007...One Year Ago

While not actively looking forward to this date, I find myself reflecting on the past year. On that day I had been having ear discomfort with the occasional shot of pain below the actual ear but the Doc had diagnosed it as an infection, not the viral swelling of the 7th cranial nerve that would eventually choke it to death. Later that evening I lost taste in the right rear of my tongue followed by the eye not blinking and my lip muscles failing on the right side. As a pilot you constantly worry about your health killing your career, especially at a regional airline where you are not protected by adequate disability and job protection....so the trip to the ER in the middle of the night was filled with more than worry over health....financial stability present and future rode on what happened next.

In retrospect, I learned that this career is not the end all of whats available to me (lets not mention carpet laying), God provides your needs (and some wants you don't deserve) even when your faith is battered a bit, and life will go on despite hardship. Was this real hardship?.. not really... compared to the loss of a spouse or a child, or war destroying your home or way of life. I'm sure if the financial and emotional support wasn't there from friends and family this paragraph would read differently but that's not the case. Anyway, I learned a lot over the last year and continue to struggle with the cosmetic aspect a bit but thats OK...I still have the Pink Lady... (The color is actually called 'Heather Pearl' which means it was meant to be, ha) We do look on life a bit differently now...in a good way.

Anyway thanks to all for your support over the last year. Don't expect anymore posts like this... just more pictures of half eaten burritos. Well, maybe when my term on the Finance team is up I will shed a tear :-) or throw a party I haven't decided yet.