7-Year Anniversary Post

By Joanne Phillips, MS, RD

Written April 15, 2007

Anniversaries are never easy especially regarding such a life changing event. 

This is a quote I saw on a TBI Facebook page that caught my attention and I thought how fitting it would be to put it with my SICU pictures as to show how far I have come in just 7 years. 

In a split second the entire landscape of my life changed. 

For years following my accident, a “second chance” was something I did not want. This was not the life I signed up for. Life struck me down at 37 years old and left me to put everything back together, a very hard and seemingly impossible task to take on given where I had to start from. 

But you see, sometimes God doesn’t give us what we WANT; rather He gives us what we NEED.

While each year has brought different challenges, it has also brought continued progress from my injuries. I have been blessed with a team of clinicians who have been and continue to be instrumental in getting me where I am today. I have been blessed with a handful of wonderful friends that have stood by my side and loved me through the worst years of my life and the most wonderful parents whose love and support have never wavered.  From my heart to yours, I thank you all for your love, dedication, understanding and patience over these past 7 years. ❤

This year is literally the FIRST anniversary I have ever felt like TRULY CELEBRATING me, my life and what I have accomplished in these last 7 years. No doubt that on this anniversary year there is a very different feeling about the “SECOND CHANCE” I was given.  As always, there is still more work for me to do, there probably always will be, but new seeds are now finally being planted. I realize it will take time for them to grow, but someday there will be a new and more beautiful landscape for me to look at and enjoy  once again . 

Yes God, I promise I will make the BEST of this, oh and btw, Thank you for my second chance!