Sunday, March 25, 2007

Housekeeping post

Just a couple items that I should note about this new blog.
  • I have enabled anonymous commenting. That means anyone can comment without having a google account.
  • However, in order to prevent comment spam, you'll have to successfully enter the word challenge. I hope that won't be too much of a pain for you. It's just supposed to be a pain for blog spam bots that seem to like to attack townsendnews.com
  • Comments should show up immediately. In the past, I had to 'moderate' the comments so garbage posts didn't offend everyone. So your comments would sit in a bucket waiting for me to approve them.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Some recent pictures of the Townsend Family






It's been a while since I posted any pictures out here. So here are a few.

















This was on February 4th right after church. I'm noticing that my eyes aren't smiling in this picture. I've noticed that without any cardiovascular workout, I am very tired a lot of the time.


















This is our Adam on MORP (<-> Prom). Four couples came over, including Natalie and her date, and Adam cooked dinner for them. Since the injury, Adam has become the designated grill master. Hamburgers were the on for this night, at Natalie's request. But he excels at steak and marrinated chicken as well.

One Year Anniversary Summary

Well, hello everyone, after a long absence. It's been so long that townsendnews.com expired. And a squatter grabbed it! Shoot. I'm going to try grab all of the content from the old host and bring it forward here.

I have received a few emails in the last two weeks from friends around the world. I feel bad for not posting an entry. That first weekend was very busy. We actually had a party with some friends and family that were there in the hospital the first night. It was really fun. But alas that weekend, ended up being really busy so I couldn't post. And given the difficult of writing the "Open letter to Novell" the night before, I knew it would take a while. That email actually took me an hour to write. Go figure. I think some of it was that it is hard to write about personal things to a known broad audience. And some of it was that I wanted to be brief but communicate three things: gratitude, current status and bring to memory to events that transpired for many of us a year ago.

Responses to that email and other emails I have received over the last two weeks have been very kind and supportive. There were a few that have been more about the new perspective people have gained after considering "What would I be like if this happened to me?" This is really what I have been contemplating these last couple of weeks.

Having been paralyzed for a year now, all of us have passed one instance of each of the holidays and celebrations that occur annually. And there are a few that are still to come because I was in the hospital when they came and went. The first of these was Novell Brainshare. Within the next two weeks, we'll pass Adam's birthday and Easter. But throughout the year, there have been birthdays, Ellen and my wedding anniversary, Christmas, the New Year, Halloween, Valentine's Day and everything else. I can't say that each was celebrated with total acceptance of our new life. You just can't help recalling previous celebrations. Valentine's Day and our anniversary was particularly weird for Ellen and I. Ellen, of course, was very kind and loving on Valentine's Day. She sent some flowers to Novell that still sit on my little conference table. I tried to do the most most cliche Valentine's that I possible could. It was my way of saying, "See I'm still just like 80% of every other man in the world." So I had 12 dozen red roses delivered and hand carried chocolates in a heart shape box to her after work. It was fun. But what still pained was that I have not found a viable substitute for dancing. This is really what she wants. Any ideas anyone?

I'll post a few more over the weekend. What would you like to hear about? What are you just dying to know about? Here's some potential topics:

Ode to my wheelchair
How do the hand controls work in the Subaru?
How do you get dressed?
What about the spasms after a year?
What's next for rehabilitation?
Update on the new house.
How are the teenagers doing?
What about the younger kids?
What do some people say that really bugs you?
What do some people say or do that you really like?
More pictures.

Feedback welcome.

-Steve

Open Letter to Novell

March 9, 2007

Friends,

It was one year ago today that I walked out of this building for the last time. I would learn later how you each learned of the accident and what your feelings and reactions were. What I saw, and will always cherish, was the immediate, personal and collective responses that, in many ways, saved me and my family.

That initial support and caring for your injured friend has changed and progressed as my condition has changed and progressed. Your gifts, cards, letters, hospital visits, prayers and faith are forever with me in my heart and memory (and a couple big scrapbooks!) But what has truly changed me is the love and acceptance you show to me as I wheel around amongst you every day.

After one year of living with paralysis, my family and I are approaching a new normal. Changes and adjustments are smaller and less frequent. I am expecting that elements of grief will linger for a while longer as various elements of loss are briefly brought into the foreground. But beside those few light shadows, the landscape of my life is filled with happiness and evidence that life is worth living to the fullest - even if I live it sitting down.

With Warm Regards,
Steve Townsend