Wounded Warrior

My son had thousands of post it notes placed all over his car two weekends ago by girls doing that silly teenager thing.  Taking them off left adhesive from every note.  Getting off left streaks in the paint of the car.
Angry yes!  Very much so.

As I was trying the different waxes that I had available I thought of a friend whose husband details his cars so they look like knew every week.  I called to asked for advice and he said he would be happy to help get the adhesive off right then.  She mentioned her son, who was home from Afganistan because an IED hit his Humvee was dropping by, I said maybe another time would be better. "No, come now", she said. It wouldn't be a problem. It is only a 5 minute drive and he was there when we arrived.

Here is were things work the way they should.  You see Mark was home because when his Humvee was hit he suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, that's what the military calls them. When he opened the door there he stood in his dark glasses, he is light sensitive, in I walk in my dark glasses because I too am light sensitive, and thus we meet.

I spent the next two hours or so talking to him about the accident, thankfully no one was killed, therapy and life.  I was able to help him speak his frustrations and actually understand and sympathize. Complain about therapy and wish that people understood just because we look normal and can speak, for the most part, normally, we are struggling.  I gave him suggestions on how to cope with noise etc. The interesting thing was when I mentioned earplugs he had been looking at buying the purple ones you can buy at drugstores but just didn't do it.  When I told him the benefits of having them on hand he understood and said he would probably buy them.  I think I will drop some off at his mother's house for him!  I mentioned that I had the military issued earplugs from my audiologist, he said "yeah, they issued those to use but we never wear them."  When I explained when and why I would wear mine, and how I appreciated the audiologist giving me a pair, his attitude towards them changed.  I told him to get his standard issue earplugs out and start wearing then in noisy situations and he may not get headaches in noisy situations because he will be dimming the noise level.
There's more, but, I waited two weeks after the fact to post this.

So from anger, the adhesive stuck all over the paint of my son's car, something positive came.  I don't know if I would have ever met Mark, let alone have a one on one conversation with him and give him hope.  I am open to talking about my life, my accident, the way I compensate just to live daily for my on healing, and if it will help someone else think differently about their situation and work harder to heal.

I helped someone who put his life on the line for our country that day.  A Wounded Warrior.  I was very proud to have contributed to his recovery and he knows how to find me just to talk if he wants to talk about his continued recovery.

Life has a way of putting you in the path of someone that needs you, don't move out of the way!