365 New Days
365 new days, 365 new, fresh, blank pages on which to write the story of my life.
It’s the new year. 2024!
Had I told my 19 year old self I’d be disabled, living in North Carolina, and making my way as a writer, I’d have laughed it off as mild insanity. Yet here I am, 40 years on, doing just that. I’m writing this while kicked back in my armchair, iPad on my lap. Tablet technology is another thing my 19 year old self would not have believed possible outside the fantasy world of Star Trek.
My point being that time marches irrevocably forward. With it comes changes and challenges. Changes like my newfound love of jazz. Challenges like cooking up something to say. I have a vision for this blog. It’s here to document my daily … my daily challenges, triumphs, and failures.
So I started this post on January 1. The first of the year. 365 new days. Now it’s January 14. Oops! Dropped the ball on that one.
And that’s okay.
This blog is a work in progress. It’s my annual holiday update to family and friends, and whoever else wants to read it, but more frequently. I’ll try not to bore you with meaningless minutiae, but a life contains more significant moments than can be included in one holiday update. Unless that update is 365 pages or more.
I’ll leave that to a memoir I’m working on. Stay tuned!
I have family and friends battling a typical Michigan winter, where temperatures are in the single digits. Here in Asheville it’s in the low 40s. We’re supposed to get and arctic blast in the days to come. I’m not looking forward to that.
I do have exciting news on the career front. I’ve been interning for the state of North Carolina, mostly copy editing. The end of that internship is around the corner. I’ve been offered the opportunity to stay on in the capacity of blogger and vocational rehabilitation peer consultant.
Aside from the blogging, which dovetails nicely with what I’m learning here, I’d act as a sort of mentor for anyone going through the process of vocational rehabilitation. It would be an opportunity to give back to the program that has done so much for me.
Am I excited? Hell yeah!
Not only will I get to write to a specific audience, but there will also be the chance to share my experiences with others who are adapting to life with a disability.
And in other news, the University of Michigan Wolverines are now national college football champions! Against the odds of an NCAA investigation, the team held it together to play an undefeated season: 15-0.
I grew up in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines have always played a big part in making autumn my favorite time of year. The roar of the crowd. The energy. Before Michigan Stadium became what it is today, I remember going to football games when tickets were…
Well, I forget how much they were, but it was a lot more affordable then than it is now.
I subscribed to YouTube TV and Peacock so I wouldn’t miss a game this season. It was well worth it, even when things were grim in the Rose Bowl against Alabama. I’ve cancelled YouTube TV, but I’ll keep Peacock for the sake of Dateline and The Office reruns.
Do they still call them reruns even on a streaming platform?
Regardless, it will be nice to pare down the streaming TV bill. That’s a whole other topic.
It’s a sunny Sunday that leaves me wondering what I’ll do to fill the rest of the day. I hear the wind picking up outside. That’s colder weather settling in. There’s plenty of reading to be done. I’m reading a memoir by NPR correspondent, Ari Shapiro. Candid and entertaining. That’s where I’ll go next.
Cheers!
