My 79-year-old father fell off a horse in October while riding a horse in Wyoming. He broke his neck and had a severe concussion. The path to recovery was a difficult one over the course of the following months. As my brother and sister were stateside, they took on the majority of the support operations along with my father’s wife, while he was nursed back to health by hospital medical staff. It was a grueling and arduous path to recovery for everyone involved.
To show support and help orient and align the family to the next steps in his continuing recovery, my siblings and I visited my father in early December. At that time, it was a difficult process to confront the changes in our father and his life since the accident. A lot of good did come from our visit, though I believe most of it was the time my siblings and I were able to spend with each other. Our parents were divorced when I was very young, and my siblings and I mostly grew up apart from each other. My brother and sister have happy, loving spouses and families of their own now, which is a credit to both their abilities to overcome the challenges we faced and also to our parents, who, despite adversity, enabled us to be successful in our own ways.
I did a few errands while I was in Denver, including visiting my beloved 2011 Dodge Challenger, which always remains awaiting my annual return in a storage facility south of Denver. I only get to drive it once or twice a year — for emissions testing and then to the DMV to renew the license plates and registration.
I really should sell the car because it doesn’t make sense to keep paying to store something I never drive. It’s ironic because I consider myself a minimalist person and don’t maintain many physical possessions that do not serve a utility in my life. You know what else is ironic? My Dodge Challenger has always represented freedom to me. The ability to get in and drive somewhere — anywhere, whenever I wanted. Now it sits in a garage, while I travel anywhere, whenever I want.
