Preface

     My wife, Irene, has always wanted to be married to an author.  I don’t know why.  I hear that they can be moody, reclusive, and self-involved, especially during a creative storm, or when suffering from writer’s block, or when revising their work, or, basically, just about all the time.  I don’t mean me, of course.  Still, since she hasn’t left me for someone else, I guess it was up to me to become one.  She was so insistent, umm, I mean encouraging, that she made me believe that I wanted to be an author.  I even have a couple of incomplete, meandering manuscripts that, rightfully so, remain locked in the proverbial desk drawer and will never see the light of day.

     Then, one day, I went for a bike ride, and everything changed.  The accident was a magnet that drew together all my life experiences at one moment in time.  As I struggled to recover, I realized that even though I was relatively well prepared - mentally, physically, and yes, financially - recovery was still hard.

     An inveterate note-taker, I wrote things down.  At first, it was because, under the effects of powerful pain medication, I wasn’t sure how much of my experience I’d be able to recollect.  Then, I became an observer of my own drama.  Against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election and the ensuing healthcare debates, I dealt with doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and my own self-doubts.   One thought struck me: so many of us have no idea what awaits us in the aftermath of a major accident or trauma.  As both actor and observer, there were so many lessons I wanted to share: about preparation, resilience, and the medical-insurance complex.

     Eventually, my scribbled notes coalesced into something that looked like a story.  I wrote the first draft under the influence of powerful pain medications.  Or, at least, that’s how it seemed to me when I reread it.  Over time, the drafts evolved into a manuscript, and the manuscript became its own imperative.  With this final version, and my desire to humbly share it with you, Irene can, for what it’s worth, at long last say that she is married to an author.

     I hope you never experience what I did.  But if you do, perhaps the story of my journey will help you move forward on your own path to recovery.

Charles Jijon

December 2017

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