A poem a day for 2015 - day 17 - Gratitude

I was in the third grade and
fell off of the garage door at my babysitter's house.
I was playing with friends. Don't ask why
we were  not supervised properly. That is
another story. One I cannot tell. But I fell.
I was pushed, pulled really, by a girl who
said it was her turn to play in that spot.
On the garage door. Where  none of us should
have been. Her turn.

I fell head first onto the cement. I fractured
my skull. I broke my head. My head. I
remember falling. I blacked out before I hit
the ground. I think before I hit the ground.
I don't remember the connection.

So on days like this, when the headache
won't seem to go away, I am thankful.
I am thankful for headaches. I am thankful
the opportunity and healthy enough to worry
about the whatevers. I am thankful for my
functioning limbs. I am thankful for my healed head.
My working brain. My wonderful self.

There is no reason that I can tell why I can walk
and talk and no damage to my brain. So I am
thankful for headaches. I don't like them. But
the alternative after a fractured skull. After falling
head first from the top of a garage door. These
two pills will help me sleep. Sleep. Rest. And wake
up. To new day.

Again.