Remember Remember

Today as I walked through the University of Utah Hospital and everyone one was greeting me with huge smiles, waving hands, and warm hellos. I was headed up to burn group therapy. The morning plans didn't include an allotted time for group, as I had stayed up late the night before editing, rendering and uploading.

The excitement of putting up a new video for my web channel, YouTube.com/samoanamatagi , somehow always seems to wake me up early. Thus was the case this morning, as I woke after six hours of sleep.

I started my normal routine: first check for e-mails and new Facebook posts, then mosy around for a few minutes to motivate myself to don my prostheses. On a video morning the normal routine is to check how the render went so I run upstairs to see the final product. A little disappointment comes over me as I notice flashes in the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP7HxDe1jI4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Curses foiled again! The upgraded editing system can't handle some spots in the video. I had seen this problem the week before and it cost me six hours to re-render it twice. The LAN-line phone rings. I rarely answer this phone as it is a little difficult and generally calls are for the other members of my household. My mom picks up and it's for me.

It's Kirsten, a facilitator for Burn Therapy Group. She's wondering if I'm coming to group. "Depends," I tell her, "If you need me there?" I tend to get motivated easier when others are motivated for me. She says, "Well I don't need you here but I have a patient who wants to meet you." That's good enough for me and I say, "I'll be there but late." She says, "That's ok because he has wound care till noon." I promise to be there at 11:30 and begin uploading my video and leave.

This makes all the difference in the world with my attitude. "Someone wanted to meet me!", I think to myself. I know the man is an amputee on both arms and legs. Beaming with excitement, I arrive at the hospital. My positive vibrations make all the difference in the world. People seem to wnt to greet me. It reminds me of a song by Bob Marley, called Positive Vibrations. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVTuiVLHyDU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You see the day before I had a negative vibe about me. I felt people were treating me wrong. Anger came quickly to me while driving. I wanted to flip people off but no middle finger. Today my positivity overflowed.

I met Will, a quadrilateral amputee. Looking at him reminded me how far I had come. I realized that I need to write a blog so I never forget. Losing hands to me is like losing a longtime friend. Actually, it's more like losing a family member. I fear forgetting how good life was with hands, like the memory of a decease loved one fading slowly. So I wanted to write so I remember, remember my hands. But not only that, also the tough, successful, and joyful times without hands.

Will you called me inspirational but I think you are inspiring me. Also Ova Afo, thanks for the encouragement to start this blog. It's something I always knewI should do but I haven't been doing!