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The Shoulder
brave-tern-747

Two years ago today my life got flipped upside down. Still processing it honestly.

I don't really know why I'm writing this. I just woke up this morning and the date hit me like a wall and I needed to put it somewhere.

Two years ago I was driving home from an overnight shift when a pickup ran a red light at full speed and took out the whole passenger side of my car. I spent weeks in the hospital, had two surgeries, and didn't get back to any kind of real work routine for over a year. The other driver didn't make it.

I still have nerve damage in my left arm that flares up whenever the weather changes or I overdo it. Most days I manage. Some days I really don't.

The hardest part honestly isn't the physical stuff anymore — it's that so much changed in my life around the same time. Lost someone close to me. Took on a lot of responsibilities I wasn't expecting. I went from feeling like I was just starting to figure things out to suddenly being the person everyone else was leaning on.

Today I'm sitting here trying to decide how to mark the day. Part of me wants to do something meaningful. Part of me wants to just… not acknowledge it and watch TV all afternoon. I thought about driving past the intersection but I don't know if that would help or just reopen things.

Does anyone else have an "anniversary" like this? What do you do with a day that's heavy but doesn't fit neatly into grief or celebration or anything? How do you actually move forward when you're still physically reminded of it all the time?

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